


wherever you are is the place i belong.

by teenagedirtbagbaby



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Attempted Rape, F/M, Minor Drug Use, Private School, cheerleader alice, cheerleader renesmee, cheerleader rosalie, doesnt get very far but i dont want anyone to be triggered, jock emmett, jock jacob
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-02-24 21:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 50,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2596286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teenagedirtbagbaby/pseuds/teenagedirtbagbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nessie's starting high school for the first time with the rest of her family, and Jacob. While worrying about revealing the family's secret, dealing with mean girls, sports requirements and maybe even new friends, Nessie also has to find out why Jacob is so hesitant with her lately. Though she wants to cling onto him and make him treat her how he used to, she's promised herself that she'll let him go if that's what he really wants. Problem is, no one seems to know what they really want. - Completely rewritten, so you may want to start from the beginning again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i could be your love song, i could be long gone

**Author's Note:**

> Title from ["Ready To Run" by One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLBiC-b3O0). Give it a chance, yeah?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from the song ["Sleep" by Mary Lambert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zY6qqvrs-Y)
> 
> Make sure to click all the links in the story for special pictures and things to help you better picture the story in your head! Let me know if any of them stop working.
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[IDFC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmWBphAf72g)" by Blackbear  
> \- "[Used To](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmvJHc9Hzwg)" by Daughtry  
> \- "[Wanna Be Yours](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jnbg3mHojg)" by the Arctic Monkeys

Nessie didn't especially want to go to school. She was perfectly fine wasting her days away at home, learning via Carlisle and hunting with Jacob. However, after their recent move, her father insisted she attend school with them. Despite the fact that school would do nothing for her, Edward sought out 'the best' school nearby. He eventually found Berkeley. It was a private school just about five miles away from their new home and, from the looks of the handbook, it was essentially an expensive prison. She'd tried fighting it. She'd begged and pouted and gave her father the silent treatment - quite a feat considering he could read her mind - but to no avail. When he bribed Jacob into attending with a new motorcycle, the jig was up. Nessie would be attending [Berkeley Academy](berkeleyacadmy.tumblr.com) today as a sophomore, and there was nothing she could do about it but grin and bare it.

However, that fact didn't make getting out of bed any easier. Her alarm clock went off fifteen minutes ago, and Edward had come in to check on her twice since. Still, she laid stretched out on her bed, one arm thrown over her face. Edward had snatched the duvet off of her and threw it down on the floor and she hadn't gotten the energy to pull it back over her yet. She felt like she was nearly drifting again when Jacob threw the door open.

"Nessieeeeeeeee," he sang, walking over to the bed and plopping down next to her. "Get up, get up, get up!"

The move had also forced them into the same house. Their home in Alaska didn't have a cottage for her and her parents to live, nor was La Push just a few miles away. All of her family, including Jacob, were living under one roof and even though Nessie _hated_ being woken up at whatever god-awful time it was, she kinda loved the fact that Jacob was around all the time now. She wasn't sure why he'd moved with them, considering he hated the smell of her family, and she could tell he missed his wolf pack terribly. Still, she wasn't complaining. She just hoped Jacob was happy.

"Why are you so wide awake?" she groaned.

"It's the first day of school!" Jacob replied and Nessie chuckled at his false enthusiasm.

“Lay with me,” she said, scooting over in her bed and making room for Jacob.

He stared at her for a few moments. Their relationship as of late had been tense, and she didn't know what she'd done to make it that way. Jacob didn't used to hesitate when Nessie asked him to do something with her. Now, it seemed that everything she said required a bit of hesitation on his part. Finally, he sighed and then nodded. “Alright, but we have to get up in five minutes so you can get ready. School starts at eight and it's already six thirty.”

“Promise,” Nessie replied, nodding.

Jacob laid down awkwardly on his back, arms folded underneath his head, and Nessie frowned. She'd wanted to cuddle like they used to. She scooted closer to him, curling into his side and laying her head on his stiff chest. “Cuddle, Jake.”

With a sigh and more hesitation, Jacob curled one arm around her shoulders lightly. Nessie tangled her legs with Jacob's and closed her eyes while Jacob mentally apologized to Edward, who was seething downstairs.

 

Five minutes passed and eventually, they had to get up. Nessie insisted Jacob sit in her bedroom and talk to her through the open door while she showered since he was already dressed. Well... semi dressed. He looked like he'd rolled out of bed and put on his [uniform](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=186991907). Nessie would fix him later.

“Have you read this dress code, Ness?” Jacob asked, reading Berkley's [Code of Conduct](http://berkeleyacademy.tumblr.com/codeofconduct) as a way to try and distract his mind from the fact that she was naked barely a few feet away from him. He could be in the shower with her in two seconds flat if he wanted. Hell, he did want to, but he couldn't. He could still hear Edward growling.

“I have, and I've fought with Daddy over it ten million times already, but he says I'll have to follow it. It gets a bit detailed and ridiculous, though. One bracelet per wrist, stud earrings only and no face jewelry,” she mimicked in a high-pitched, posh accent.

Jacob laughed loudly. “We're going to a private school in Alaska, Nessie, not England!”

Nessie's laughs echoed off the glass shower walls and Jacob's smile grew. She rinsed her hair one last time and then turned off the tap, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around herself as she stepped out of the shower. She towel dried her hair until it wasn't dripping any longer and wouldn't get her shirt wet, and then reached for her clothes only to curse herself. She hadn't remembered to bring them in.

Her closet connected her bathroom and bedroom, but if Jacob were still on the bed, he'd be able to see her the moment she walked through the bathroom door. Which, she thought, she wouldn't necessarily mind, but something told her Jacob would.

Making sure her towel was secure around her chest and shaking her hands a few times in effort to shake off her nervousness with them, she walked out of the bathroom with her head held high. “Sorry,” she murmured as she walked to her dresser. She didn't dare look at Jacob. “I forgot my clothes.” She heard Jacob let out a groan and winced, looking over at him. He'd laid back on the bed and thrown an arm over his eyes.

“What sport are you going to take for the requirement?” she asked, trying to relieve the tension as she pilfered through her lingerie drawer to find a matching set of underwear.

“Football, probably.”

“Cliche.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jacob replied, but she could hear the smile in his voice. She smiled back victoriously while she attached her bra.

“What are you going to do?”

“I'm going to be a sophomore. The sports requirement doesn't apply to me for another two years.” She pulled a white camisole over her head before reaching for one of her white, button down blouses off the hanger.

“Well it won't apply to me until next year! Besides, you might as well get it over with now. Who knows where we'll be in two years?”

'Hopefully still best friends,' Nessie felt like saying, cause lately she just wasn't sure. “Exactly. No point in me doing it now if we might not even be going to this dumb school then. Are you doing yours this year?”

"Nah, probably not," he agreed.

She pulled up her skirt and finished tucking her blouse into it, before calling Jacob back into the bathroom. By routine, he sat on the bench while she did her hair and makeup and made small talk with her. In her old house, they'd just be getting ready to go to La Push or to Charlie's, but now the routine took a bit longer. They were going to High School. Nessie shuddered again as she bent over to retrieve her hair dryer from under the sink. She couldn't believe Jacob had agreed to go to school, just so she'd go. When she turned around to call him a traitor again, she noticed his teeth were clenched and he was staring at a fixed point on the wall beside her.

“What's the matter?” she asked, lying her fingertips lightly against his forearm to show him how he looked through her eyes.

“Please don't bend over at school. That skirt barely covers your ass,” he replied through clenched teeth.

Nessie rolled her eyes and returned to the mirror, plugging her hair dryer in. “Why do you even care?” she muttered under her breath, turning it on immediately after to drown out any reply Jacob may have. Wickedly, she turned to her side, bending forward again to dry her hair. With her eyes closed, she couldn't see Jacob's expression, but she hoped he was seething.

Her hair dried fairly quickly, fortunately for Jacob, who was reciting the alphabet backwards in an attempt to keep his thoughts from Edward. Stashing the device away, she turned back to the mirror and reached for her eyeliner. She didn't need makeup, in Jacob's opinion. He'd never told her so, considering her body belonged to her and his opinion didn't matter when it came to it. Still, he thought she was beautiful enough without it.

Nessie added some mascara, light eye shadow and lip gloss. All the while Jacob stared at her in the mirror, watching her with strange interest. She wasn't sure why he sat in here and kept her company while she went through all of this, when he could've gotten another hour of sleep instead, but he did and she was grateful.

She reached for his hand when she was finished and pulled him to his feet, guiding him out of the bathroom and back into the closet. He sat down on the ottoman while she looked through her heels, trying to find some that met the school's close-toed, three-inch policies. She'd have to go shopping for more this weekend.

Jacob took the shoes from her and laid them on the ground, facing him. She held out her hand and he took it, balancing her as she stepped into her shoes, eyes on her face instead of her feet. He supposed she didn't really need his help anymore, not that she ever had, but when she'd stepped into the heels Alice used to buy her when she was younger, it placated him to have a hold of her 'in case she lost her balance.' It'd become a sort of tradition, and on the rare days when she dressed by herself, he missed it. She looked up at him with a smile and his world was stopping again.

Nessie took a snapshot of this moment and held it safe in her brain. The times when Jacob looked at her like she was his entire world, they meant the most to her, and they were coming few and far between lately. Jacob tended to avoid looking at her now, always looked at the ground instead. She pried her hand from his gently and pulled away before he remembered himself and the cloud of doubt covered his eyes again, grabbing her tie from the vanity and threading it through her collar. She stared at herself in the mirror, reminding herself of the promise she'd made in her mind when she'd first started noticing the distance between herself and Jacob. If he wanted to go, she wouldn't make him stay. She was almost positive that's what this was. He missed his family, the pack, La Push and he'd only moved with her family to appease her. Maybe she was becoming a burden, now that she was older. Maybe he'd realized she was in love with him.

As she finished, Jacob stood up and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “You'll be fine,” he said. “High school isn't as big of a deal as the movies make it out to be.” He thought she was worried about school.

Nessie smiled in the mirror at his reflection and he kissed the back of her head, leaving her to go into the bedroom. She grabbed her blazer off its hanger on the way out. Jacob presented her with the school's Code of Conduct, opened to the page on Dress Code, where her father had highlighted everything he felt pertained to her. She rolled her eyes and took it from Jacob, mentally checking everything off.

White blouse, long sleeved, buttoned all the way to the top and tucked into her skirt. Check. Plaid school-issued skirt, at the waist, no shorter than finger-tip length. Halfway check. It was a bit shorter, courtesy Alice, but she hoped the school wouldn't notice an inch or two. Black, closed-toe flats or heels, less than three inches high. Check. Tie and blazer, check, [check](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=186991572). She ignored the rest and threw the book back onto the bed, pulling her cell phone from its charger and grabbing her backpack off her desk.

She turned back to Jacob, who was still standing in the middle of the room, looking forlorn. “What's the matter, now?”

Jacob shook his head, reaching for her and pulling her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his back, placing her head against his chest. She was a great deal shorter than him, a fact he liked to point out as often as possible, but today, his heart didn't seem set on it. “You're just growing up too fast, kid,” he said.

Nessie rolled her eyes, but ignored the nickname this time. “Done growing, hopefully.” She pulled away from his embrace, tightening his tie instead. “Come on. Momma will kill us if you don't eat before we leave.”

Jacob sighed. “Here goes nothing.”

Downstairs, the rest of the family seemed to agree with Jacob. Rosalie's skirt was noticeably shorter than the requirements, shorter than hers even, and she'd moved her wedding ring over to her right hand, refusing to take it off. Emmett's blazer was about to burst at the seams and Esme was promising him she'd fix it tonight. Alice was sitting in the corner with her arms crossed, pouting angrily because she couldn't tell how most of their day would go due to Jacob and Renesmee attending. She'd chosen to wear tights and flats with her uniform. Jasper stood next to her, smirking down at her with his blazer thrown over his shoulder. He reached out and rubbed her back consolingly. Bella was still cooking breakfast for Jacob, also wearing flats instead of heels, and Edward was staring down at his wife's skirt angrily.

Edward's eyes cut over to Renesmee in that moment, eyeing her skirt as well. She knew he appreciated it about as much as Jacob had. With a huff and crossed arms, she made her way over to the table and sat down, Jacob sitting next to her.

“Can we go over the story again?” her father asked, and it said something about her mood that he had asked instead of simply telling her they would.

“I'm [Renesmee Masen](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r7l-kcIEUaM/Uf8Xa75gKSI/AAAAAAAADFg/6fmKLdVH5PU/s1600/lily-collins.jpg), sister to Isabella Masen. We were adopted by Esme and Carlisle after our parents died in a house fire. We were sleeping over at a friend's house. Esme and Carlisle were good friends of our parents and were appointed our Godparents when we were born. I'm in Grade Ten and Mom's in Grade Eleven. You're Edward Cullen. Alice Cullen and Emmett Cullen are your siblings. Your parents were addicted to methamphetamine. After a tip from the school, you were taken from your parents and put in the system. Esme and Carlisle adopted the three of you to save you from being split up. You're in Grade Twelve with Uncle Emmett and Aunt Alice is in Grade Ten with me. After you guys were adopted, Rosalie and Jasper Hale were. They're twins, and both in Grade Eleven. Their parents passed away in a car crash. Carlisle was the doctor on duty when they were brought in, nearly unharmed except for a few broken bones and lacerations. Jacob was Esme's childhood best friend's son. He never knew his father. When his mother passed away, Esme begged Carlisle to take him in. He's in Grade Eleven. You, Alice and Emmett are the only ones who wanted to take the Cullen last name.”

Edward smiled when she finished. “Great,” he said quietly, walking over to her and kissing her temple. “It will be okay,” he whispered against her hair. “I promise.”

To nearly anyone else, it probably seemed like Nessie was nervous about school and Edward was calming her nerves. She smiled smally, looking around the room a bit. She could tell her mother knew what was on her mind, and it seemed that maybe Carlisle and Esme might also, but that was it. Alice and Jasper were watching TV, or pretending to, Rosalie and Emmett were standing against one of the walls, talking quietly, and Jacob was... shoving his face. “Thanks, Daddy.”

“When you're done with your breakfast, we'll leave. We're cutting it a bit close,” Bella said to Jacob.

“What cars are we taking?” Jacob asked.

“You aren't taking your motorcycle.”

Jacob started to argue, but Edward ignored him.

“You, Bella and I will take the [Volvo](http://autonationdrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2016-volvo-xc90-t6-autonation-video.jpg) -” Renesmee groaned, but Edward ignored her as well. “and Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice are taking the [Mercedes](https://40.media.tumblr.com/eb3aa32a8c9703f93a52ed3be0ee91d8/tumblr_nzblwv3rnS1qcyc6eo1_540.jpg).”

Nessie walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a glass, pouring water from the tap into it and taking a swallow to ease her dry throat. Jacob walked up behind her a few seconds later, placing his dirty plate and glass into the sink beside her. "Are you okay?" he asked. Nessie hesitated, but nodded, refusing to look up at him and staring into her glass of water instead. Jacob sighed and opened his mouth to say something else, but Edward interrupted him.

“We need to go, Renesmee.”

She left Jacob behind with a frown, taking her backpack from her father's hand and walking out the door. She felt Jacob fall into place beside her, a warm hand hovering near the small of her back, not touching, but close enough. She smiled despite her mood as he opened the back door to the Volvo and ushered her inside.

The ride to school was quiet, other than Jacob reminding her to put her seatbelt on. Otherwise, he stared out the window and her parents stared out the windshield, holding hands on the console. She seemed like the only one literally buzzing with a million thoughts and anticipation. Slyly, she reached her hand out to graze Jacob's lightly. _What's wrong?_

As she'd gotten older, she'd learned to show more than just pictures and emotions. She'd learned how to make her voice sound through the other person's head, asking questions or giving her thoughts on a matter without having to do so out loud. Of course, this didn't protect those words from her father, still, but they were still at least a smidgen more private than if she'd spoken them.

Jacob turned his attention from the window for a moment, looked at her and smiled smally, shaking his head.

She frowned, forgetting her own mood as her mind became overwhelmed with worry about Jacob's. She relayed the images from this morning: his awkwardness whilst holding her and waiting for her to get dressed, his forlorn face and _“You're just growing up too fast, kid.”_

_What did I do?_

His face fell a bit and Nessie wondered if that was good or bad. He gripped her hand more tightly in between them. “Nothing, Ness. It's not you, I promise.”

It was the first bit of sound other than the car's engine, but no one turned to look at them or even acknowledged that Jacob spoke.

_It's not you, it's me?_

Jacob chuckled. “It is, though. Just dealing with a few things. Didn't mean to take it out on you.”

His eyes felt like they were burning holes in her with their pity. She looked away, down to his shirt instead. The collar was rumpled and his buttons weren't done up all the way. _Remind me to fix your uniform. You're absolutely helpless._

“Hey!”

If they could only stay like this all the time. None of the awkwardness, none of the hesitation. Just Nessie and Jake telling secrets and cracking jokes. Her father cleared his throat in the front seat and Nessie met his eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Go over your schedule for me, Renesmee?”

Nessie rolled her eyes playfully, but obliged. “English first period with Aunt Alice, Algebra II second period with Uncle Emmett, Biology third with you and Momma, American History fourth with Uncle Jasper, Piano fifth with you again, Study Hall sixth, Health and PE seventh and eighth with Jake and Uncle Emmett. The only person I don't have a class with is Aunt Rosalie. You've got me properly surrounded, Daddy.”

“It wasn't intentional. We've all got classes together,” Edward mumbled from the front seat.

Nessie knew her schedule was worked out meticulously, though. Her father worried too much about her.

They pulled up in the student parking lot just five minutes before the first bell. Jacob jumped out of the car first, complaining about how compact the Volvo was and how he needed a lot more leg space than it allowed. He walked over to Nessie's door, opening it for her and taking her bag. “C'mon kid, let's go find your first period.”

“I'm perfectly capable of finding my own classes, Jacob,” Nessie chastised, but secretly, she was just happy he was talking to her again. She reached up to his tie, untying it as she talked. “Why don't you find yours? Economics, if I'm correct? An entirely different building than the English classes?” Jacob stuck his tongue out at her while she straightened his shirt and retied his tie. You're supposed to have all these buttons buttoned you know? Don't wanna get a point on your first day, do you?”

He rolled his eyes. “That points system is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.” The bell cut him off just as Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie pulled into a space next to them. Nessie watched as they all climbed out of the car, Jasper grabbing Alice's hand and Emmett wrapping his arm around Rosalie's waist. Rosalie's hand snuck into the one of Emmett's back pockets and her father wrapped an arm around her mother's shoulders. A horrible loneliness settled into her bones, aching deep and relentlessly.

“Where'd you go?” Jacob asked, pulling her attention away from her family. She returned her eyes to his and tried to banish the urge to claim him like her aunts were claiming their mates. But Jacob wasn't her mate.

Jacob took a deep breath and then held his arms out for her. “C'mere.” She fell into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, clinging to the back of his blazer. One of his hands played with her hair as the other rested on the small of her back. He kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know what's going on with you lately, Ness, and it scares the shit out of me. I wish you'd tell me what it was so I could fix it. It's driving me insane.”

Nessie wished she could tell Jacob that _he_ was the one acting strangely, putting distance between the two of them, but the promise she made herself rang through her head once again, so instead, she pasted on a fake smile and pulled out of his arms just as the bell rang.

“Off with you!” Nessie declared, waving her hands at Jacob.

Jacob laughed, but it was forced. He was confused at her change of emotions. Still, he leaned in and pressed his lips to Nessie's forehead.

“I missed you,” she whispered, despite herself.

“Didn't go anywhere. Bye, Kid. See you at lunch!”

Her first professor seemed nice enough, though strict. Professor Radburn wanted a book report every month and outlined each of the eight books they'd be reading in class. However, she promised to assign no homework other than the reports and that there would be no at-home reading required of the books they read in class. Nessie thought that seemed pretty fair, and she'd already read most of the books they were going to read in class anyway.

In Economics, Jacob was doing his best not to think of Nessie with her father sitting beside him. Lately, it was difficult. Especially with how his morning started and how Nessie looked in her uniform. He knew the uniforms weren't meant to look like they came straight from a porn video, but Nessie made the strangest things appear sexy. Nessie was quite sexy.

Edward growled beside him and Jacob apologized fervently in his mind. _I can't help it!_ He looked at Jacob with a disapproving glare. 

“You'll learn to,” he hissed.

“Mister Cullen, did you have something more important to discuss with Mister Black? Am I interrupting you? Shall I stop explaining my syllabus so as not to distract you?”

Jacob snickered quietly. 

“No, Professor Avery. I apologize.”

Professor Avery stared at the two of them for a few more moments before continuing her lecture. Edward cut Jacob a look that showed he meant what he said.

When the bell rang, Jacob stood by the door to the Algebra II classroom, only to be dragged away by Edward. “You won't be seeing her after thinking inappropriate thoughts about her all period.”

“It was one thought!” Jacob argued. “The rest of them were harmless!”

Emmett met Nessie halfway instead, picking her up in a tight bear hug. “Emmett!” Nessie complained. “I can't breathe!”

“Missed ya, sis!” Emmett joked.

They were nearly late to class, but slid in just as the bell rang, earning a disapproving glare from the Professor. Nessie elbowed Emmett. “Thanks a lot.”

Syllabus reading and ice breakers were getting boring quickly. She hated having to stand and introduce herself only to hear “what a unique name” and “how did your parents come up with that?” and “well which name do you prefer?” She told everyone she preferred Renesmee, even though she actually liked Nessie a lot more. Nessie was for friends and family and she wasn't going to be making any of either here.

Biology with her parents was the worst yet. She knew they'd met in a biology classroom when her mom was a human, but the loved up glances and sly smiles was driving her insane. Next time, she swore she'd sit in the back, as far away from them as possible.

Jasper made her feel better afterwards in American History, smirking. Nessie slipped a hand onto his wrist discreetly. _Were they always this bad?_ He nodded in response as the professor began droning on about the syllabus.

At lunch, she got a reprieve. Due to the school's close monitoring on the students' eating habits, the whole family had to get trays of food. At least, she reasoned, the school only monitored how many times a student skipped a meal and didn't go through the line and not how much they ate off their tray.

“How's your classes so far, Ness?” he asked around a mouthful of food.

“Interesting,” Nessie replied. “Except for biology.”

Her mother stuck her tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes.

“What's everyone think of us, Daddy?”

Edward glanced towards Jacob for a second and smirked before replying. “That we're strange but attractive. A boy in our biology class has a bit of a thing for you, but he's worried you're with Jacob and he won't have a chance.” he admitted.

Jacob growled beside her, while Nessie glared at her father. He held his hands up and mouthed _'you asked'_ in response. She turned to Jacob instead. He was staring down at his tray, spearing his green beans with his fork as if they'd personally offended him. “Okay, Jacob?”

“Peachy,” he mumbled.

Nessie's gaze fell, looking to her tray. She'd been relatively excited about the lunch today. Lasagna was her favorite human food, and though she was certain it would taste nothing like how her family made it, you couldn't muck up lasagna. However, her mood was all over the place, as was Jacob's, and though he'd told her otherwise, she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd done something wrong and messed up their friendship. _If Jacob wants out, I won't make him stay. If Jacob wants out, I won't make him stay. If Jacob wants out..._

She looked up. Her father was staring back at her pityingly again. _Stop that._

The rest of lunch dragged by slowly and while half of Nessie wanted to get away from Jacob as soon as possible, the other half knew she had two classes with him that afternoon. She was long away from being home free.

Piano class was probably the highlight of her day even though she shared it with her father. Upon arrival, the professor handed out a pre-test instead of a syllabus and explained that afterward, she would have each student play something on the piano for her. Nessie and Edward both knew they'd aced the pre-test, smirking at each other confidently as they passed it back. Professor Emerson called each student one by one up to the piano. Most of them played their best rendition of chop sticks or Mary Had A Little Lamb.

When the professor finally called Edward, Nessie sat, genuinely curious at what he would play. Would he show off or keep some of his talent hidden? When he started playing the first few notes in the lullaby he'd written for her mother, Nessie couldn't contain her smile. They would be showing off. Professor Emerson sat in silent admiration, watching her father with a look she'd seen on peoples' faces countless times. A few students clapped when he finished, and Edward stood, turning towards the Professor. “Very beautiful, Mister Cullen. May I ask the name of the piece?”

Nessie wondered if he blushed easily when he was a human, if he would be blushing now if he could. “Bella's Lullaby, sir. I wrote it myself a few years back.”

He was praised a few more times and then dismissed. The students after him tried a bit harder, but none could compare. “Renesmee Masen?” Nessie stood, walking towards the piano. “What will you be playing for us, Miss Masen?”

“'River Flows in You' by Yiruma,” she replied, turning to catch her father's reaction. He gave a slight, proud nod. She rested her fingers on the keys and took a deep breath before starting to play. The whole day's stress melted away. None of it mattered. Jacob Black didn't feel the same way she felt towards him and it wasn't a big deal. She hated school, but it would pass. If Jacob wanted out, she wouldn't make him stay. She could think that with confidence now, with her fingers pressing against the keys and producing something so beautiful, so extraordinary, but she knew when she was done, it would fade away.

“Well done, Miss Masen,” Professor Emerson said as she finished. She opened her eyes. The bell rang and she walked back to her seat. “We'll do the rest of you tomorrow. Have a great afternoon.”

Edward threw his arm around Nessie's shoulders. “You did well, sweetheart,” he praised quietly.

“Thanks, Daddy,” she replied.

Study Hall was quiet, and she was so, so thankful. She pulled out her iPod, pressing each earbud into her ear without much thought. She didn't have any homework thus far today, so resting through this period seemed like an excellent idea. She'd just pressed her head into her folded arms on top of the table when someone tapped her shoulder.

“Can we share? Left mine at home and the silence is driving me insane.”

Nessie smiled. “Sure, Jake, but no complaining about my music.”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “I'll try not to.”

Someone shushed them as she passed a bud over. She couldn't lie down now, not with Jacob starting on his homework and the cord stretching like it was. She stared slyly at Jacob's arm bracing the back of her chair unconsciously, and then looked up at the rest of her family to see if they were paying attention. No one at the round table was, save her father who looked up for a millisecond before returning his eyes to his work. Nessie slid her chair over a tad, alerting Jacob. She ignored his questioning gaze, settling against his left side instead and closing her eyes. Jacob sighed, wrapping his arm around her and kissing her hair. “Rest, Ness.”

Health class was embarrassing from start to finish. Nessie didn't quite understand why she needed to take a class outlining human reproduction and puberty, considering she couldn't have children and was already done growing, but everyone at Berkeley had to take it once before graduation and this just happened to be Nessie's unlucky year. Unluckier even, because Jacob and Emmett would be joining her. At least it wasn't her father.

Their last class of the day was P.E. and Nessie was happy the day was nearly over. She, Jacob and Emmett joined the group of students surrounding the coach and a pile of duffel bags. The bell rang and Coach Jesse began his instruction.

“When I call your name, please come forward, get your duffel bag and then head to the locker rooms to change and choose a locker. Inside each duffel is two shirts, two pairs of shorts, a hoodie, a pair of sweatpants, a water bottle, and a combination lock. You are required to dress out every single day. Today, we will just be in the gym, but water bottles are required for any outdoor activities.”

He started calling off the names, Black and Cullen being two of the first called, leaving Nessie alone. People were staring at her, whispering, but their words were loud as cannons to her. She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment, opening them slowly enough to be considered normal. When the coach finally called her name, she reached for her duffel and tried her hardest not to run towards the locker rooms.

Inside, she was surprised to find the other girls changing in the middle of the locker room instead of going into bathroom stalls. She didn't know why she expected them to be modest. They were all very pretty and fit, but for some reason she'd envisioned this happening a bit differently. Still, not wanting to be the odd one out when she was already attracting attention, she started changing as well.

A blonde girl and two brunettes came in the room last, chattering excitedly. “He's so good looking though! It's sad that it's wasted on her,” one of the brunettes whined.

“I think they're all taken, Ana. Except Black, but he'll be mine,” the blonde replied smugly.

“What makes you think he isn't taken? Just cause he doesn't parade it around? I think the short girl in our class is his.”

Nessie was stuck between wanting to tell the girls Jacob wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole and hiding before they realized she was nearby. She didn't have time for either, apparently.

“Hey, Masen!” the blonde called.

Nessie turned slowly. “Renesmee,” she replied.

The blonde looked at her for a moment before smiling cattily. “Renesmee,” she corrected with fake sweetness. “What's the story on you and Jacob Black?”

 _If Jacob wants to leave, I won't make him stay._ “No story,” Nessie said, and it hurt, but it was the truth. “Just close friends.”

“So he's on the market then?”

“I suppose.” Nessie put her hair in a ponytail and shoved the duffel in her locker, locking it. “I could put in a good word for you if you'd like, feel around?”

The girl smiled. “Would you really do that?”

“Sure thing...” she hinted for the girl's name.

“[Tiffany](http://zntent.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dianna-agron.jpg). I'm Tiffany, and this is Ana and Samantha.”

Nessie nodded. “Tiffany, alright.” She walked out of the locker room, head head marginally high. It hurt, pretending that she wanted Jacob to be with someone like Tiffany, that she'd be okay with it, even go as far as to match-make.

Jacob was leaning against the wall of the girls' locker room when she came out, Tiffany right behind her. Jacob watched Tiffany walk by with mild disinterest, eyebrows raising at the eyes she was making at him. “Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to be asking if you want to sleep with her.”

Jacob spluttered. “What?”

“Tiffany. She wants you.”

“No, I gathered that. She's been making it quite obvious since Latin. What do you mean you're supposed to be asking?”

Distantly, the coach blew his whistle. Nessie started walking towards it, Jacob trailing behind. “She asked me what we were. I said best friends. She said she wanted you. I offered to put in a good word for her. Now here we are,” she explained, without looking at him.

He reached out for her upper arm. “Ness, why would you offer to put in any kind of word for her? I don't want her.”

Nessie looked up at him and shrugged. “How would I know that? I don't know your type. You've been really unhappy since we moved and I thought maybe if you had a girlfriend, or someone to at least.... you know.... you might feel better,” she said with a blush.

He stared at her for a few moments, ignoring the coach instructing the other students on what they were doing for the rest of the day. With a sigh, Jacob shook his head, pulling his hand away from Nessie's arm and pulling her into a hug. He trailed her fingers through her hair as he whispered, “I don't want any of them, Ness.”

“When you two are quite finished, I'd love to get on with my class,” Coach Jesse finally called, and Nessie and Jake pulled apart, walking over to the rest of the group. Tiffany was shooting daggers her way. The coach went down the line of students numbering them 1 - 4 and Nessie sighed and crossed her arms when Jacob was put into the same group as Tiffany.

“Why you pouting, beautiful?” a boy asked, walking up to her. “I'm [Chris](http://starcasm.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Colton_Haynes_Jackson_Teen_Wolf.jpeg).” He was tall, but not nearly as tall as Jacob and a bit thinner than Jacob as well. His skin was only a tad bit sunkissed and his hair fell in blonde, fringy waves. He was a regular Ken doll, and when Nessie caught Jacob's eyes over the boy's shoulder, she noticed he was seething.

“Renesmee,” Nessie finally answered, plastering on her fakest smile.

“You're new, right? To the town, I mean?”

Nessie nodded. “Yeah, my family just moved here about a month ago, I think?” They'd moved in twenty four days ago, but spouting that out might seem a bit strange to a human.

“How are you liking it so far?”

“It's alright. I miss home.”

The coach blew his whistle once more and explained the game they were about to play. Nessie kept up a conversation with Chris throughout the class in a valiant effort to keep herself from looking over at Jacob and Tiffany. At the end of the class, they offered to put up the balls. “Is it cool if I get your number? We could text?”

She thought for a second, noticing Jacob hovering by the locker rooms out of the corner of her eye. Chris was a nice enough guy. Even if he bored her a bit, she could probably get over that with time, right? She could probably learn to like him, be attracted to him. “Have your phone?” she asked.

Chris smiled and nodded, taking it out of his pocket and handing it to her. She typed in her number and saved it under a new contact bearing her name and a few cute emojis. They split ways at the locker rooms, Nessie throwing Jacob a smile to calm him down a bit. It wouldn't do for him to get angry just because someone was showing interest in his 'little sister.'

As she rounded the corner in the locker room, she heard the last bit of a conversation before the entire room hushed. “Don't know what she's playing at. One man's bed isn't enough for her? She's gotta have Chris and Jacob?” Obviously Jacob had turned Tiffany down himself. “I mean, she's not even all that pretty. She looks like a child!”

When they saw her, they closed their mouths, and that really should've said something to her. They were cowards. They wouldn't have said that to her face. They grew silent when she came into the room. However, she stared at her feet as she walked to her locker, throwing her uniform into her backpack and tossing it over her shoulder. She would shower at home. She couldn't be here anymore.

Jacob and Emmett called her as she stormed through the gym and towards the parking lot. The bell rang as she walked through the last set of doors and students started trickling from buildings. She walked a bit faster, tossing her backpack on the hood of the Volvo. Tears were already running down her face and if her father didn't hurry with the keys so she could hide them behind the tinted windows, she may just tear the door off.

Jacob caught up to her, pulling her into his arms. “Nessie, what's the matter?”

She sobbed, tears and makeup smudging his blazer. Jacob rubbed her back and kissed her hair as she cried regardless. “Nessie, I can't make it better until you tell me what happened. You're killing me here.”

She heard the locks in the Volvo click and she scrambled away from Jacob and into the safe confines of the backseat. Through the window, she could see her father shaking his head slightly at Jacob with a dark expression. After a few moments, the rest of the family got into their cars and started home silently.

Jacob moved his hand over in between them, pressing his pinky against Nessie's and curling them together in a silent plea for for her to share at least a fraction of the thoughts running through her head with him.

_You can't fix it, Jake._

“I can try,” he replied aloud. “I'd like to at least make you feel better.”

Nessie didn't comment back. She'd stopped outright crying and had resorted to staring out the window sadly while the occasional tear still fell.

 _Tiffany's a bitch_ , she finally shared.

Edward cleared his throat from the front seat, but Nessie ignored him.

“What'd she do to you?” Jacob asked incredulously.

Nessie scoffed. _There's nothing she could DO to me, Jacob._

“Ness,” Jacob said seriously. “Come on, babe.”

Nessie looked up. Jacob had called her many pet names over the last eight years, but babe was definitely a new one. She wrapped her finger more tightly around his, replaying the entire conversation she'd unfortunately overheard. Edward growled from the front seat again, pulling into their garage.

Jacob pulled his hand away from Nessie's, running it through his hair instead. “Go get changed and we can go for a run if you want.”

Nessie nodded and walked upstairs. Whilst changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top, her phone vibrated loudly from on top of her dresser. It was an unknown number.

_U ok beautiful? U looked upset when u left class._

Chris. She'd forgotten all about him. If she knew what was good for her, she'd ignore his text and politely distance herself from him until he got the hint. Tiffany would hate her either way, but maybe she wouldn't say such mean things about her behind her back anymore. Besides, what would she do with a human boy? A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. “Ready to go?” Jacob asked.

Nessie nodded again, throwing her phone on the bed without answering Chris.

They walked most of the way through the woods near the house in silence, though Jacob said they'd be running. Once they were pretty far in, Jacob stopped, pulling Nessie down to sit next to him on a fallen tree. He was silent for a few more moments, and Nessie fidgeted, worrying a hangnail on the side of her thumb.

“You can't think what Tiffany said was true, Nessie. You're beautiful. So, so beautiful. Inside and out.”

Of course she knew that, rationally. She was half vampire, made to be beautiful so she could lure in prey. But she was only half vampire, so maybe she had a glitch. Maybe she just thought she was beautiful and the people surrounding her had always told her she was beautiful so she believed them. Maybe she wasn't beautiful to human standards like the rest of her family was. But then, Chris had called her beautiful as well.

“Why were you so angry at Chris today?”

Jacob's features darkened. “Chris who?” he tried.

Nessie looked at him disbelievingly. “Jake.”

Jacob sighed, running a hand through his hair. “He wants in your skirt.”

“Probably,” Nessie commended, and Jacob spluttered. “But I'm old enough and smart enough to make decisions about my own body, don't you think?”

“I never said you weren't. I just don't like him.”

“You don't know him.”

“Neither do you,” Jacob pointed out.

“You're right. But he's sweet, and he likes me.”

“He isn't good enough for you.”

“Again, my decision to make, so do you think you could maybe stop giving him death glares from across the room?”

“Probably not, no.”

“Why not?” Nessie asked indignantly.

“Cause I don't trust him.”

“Look, I get that you're trying to play big brother here, but I've already got two uncles and a father doing that and I could really use a best friend on my side!” Nessie cried.

Jacob smirked a tiny bit. “Oh, I am not playing big brother, Ness.”

Nessie ignored him. "I don't understand you in the slightest."

"You will one day," Jacob replied, and Nessie absolutely hated when he treated her like she was a child.

They ran back home eventually and the first thing Nessie did was pick her phone up off the bed to reply to Chris's text.


	2. come on skinny love, just last the year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from ["Skinny Love"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNzCDt2eidg). I linked the Birdy version, cause it's the one i like best personally.
> 
>  
> 
> **Please remember to go back and re-read the first chapter, as I've edited it quite a bit. Nothing drastic really changed, it's just longer now. I'm redoing the whole story. It won't be much different, but it'll come along a lot faster this way.**
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbuN235i9g0)" by One Direction  
> \- "[Decode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvnkAtWcKYg)" by Paramore  
> \- "[Spaces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMudX9cwiHE)" by One Direction

The next day, Nessie didn't wake up to Jacob's annoying insistence. She woke up all on her own and was completely showered and dressed, standing in her closet and picking out her shoes by the time Jacob came knocking. “Wake up, Ne – oh. You're up.”

“Yup,” she called. “Thanks, though.”

He appeared in the doorway of her closet a second later, jaw dropped and fists clenched barely seconds after arriving. “You are _not_ wearing that to school,” he said through his teeth.

She'd paired her [uniform](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=186993218) with a pair of black lace tights today, rolling the waistband of her skirt down a few times like she'd seen some of the girls get away with yesterday. “There's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing, Jacob. It even follows the dress code.”

“Really, Ness? Cause I think that skirt's way too short.”

Nessie finally decided on a pair of black Louboutins, they had a three and a half inch heel, if she were being honest, but she figured she was already breaking the dress code with a bunch of other 'half-inches' anyway. 

“Well, luckily, you're in no position to tell me what to wear. As much as you try, you aren't my father, Jacob.” She squatted to place the shoes on the floor by her feet, figuring she shouldn't press her luck with Jacob by bending over again. He was already quite pissed with her, for whatever reason. However, the squat seemed to cause him to growl also. When she stood and forced her feet into the shoes on her own, that seemed to be the last straw for him. 

Jacob raced downstairs and Nessie sped up a bit, gathering her backpack and blazer off her bed before following after him. “Edward!” he yelled as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Everyone took one look at Renesmee and smirked. “Tell her she can't wear that!”

Edward gave Nessie a bored once-over before returning to the game he was playing with Emmett. She walked into the kitchen to greet her mother and take the plate of pancakes she was offering. “We don't dictate what Renesmee wears, Jacob. It's her body. Besides, it's not like she's prancing around in lingerie. It's the school uniform.”

Nessie turned and smirked at Jacob, piling a forkful of pancakes into her mouth. “Are you ready for your second day, sweetheart?” Bella asked, leaning against the counter top.

“Not especially. You know I hated the first one,” she replied just as her cell phone buzzed. Jacob snatched it off the table before she could.

“That douchebag's coming over tonight?” 

Nessie glared at Jacob with wide eyes, leaning over him to reach for her phone. “You have no right to go through my phone!” she screeched, fighting against him. “Give it here!” 

“You've never cared before!” Jacob replied angrily, holding it out of her reach. 

Edward turned off his game and walked into the kitchen, taking his daughter's phone from the wolf's hand and giving it back to her wordlessly. Jacob's fists clenched as he shook and although Nessie knew, logically, she should be a bit terrified of him right now, she couldn't find it in herself to be.

“It doesn't matter who I decide to invite over, Jacob. This house is just as much mine as it is yours. As long as my family doesn’t mind, Chris can come and go as he pleases!”

“And my opinion doesn't matter?” Jacob yelled back.

Nessie stood her ground. “Considering having a human in your presence doesn't cause your throat to go aflame, no! It doesn't.” She crossed her arms and Jacob scoffed, rolling his eyes and getting up from the table, leaving his full plate of pancakes behind.

“Whatever, Renesmee.” He stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him. Any harder, and he would've broken it. 

She deflated a bit, on the inside, but was determined not to let it show. Jacob never called her Renesmee, no matter how angry he got with her. He rarely got angry with her in the first place, and now she'd pissed him off twice in the past two days. 

Jacob rode his bike to school, despite what Edward said the previous day. Nessie was forced to sit alone in the backseat of her parents' car in silence, staring out the window. Edward tried making conversation a few times, but completely gave up when he only received one word answers.

At school, Chris was waiting by the edge of the parking lot where the Cullens had parked the previous day. Jacob had arrived before them and Chris was trying to make small talk with him, to no avail. The wolf stood, fists clenched, mouth pressed in a film line and waited as the Volvo pulled into the parking spot beside his motorcycle. 

Nessie climbed out of the vehicle immediately, walking over to the duo and discreetly placing a finger against Jacob's arm. _Please be nice,_ she begged. Jacob grunted.

“Hey, Chris.”

“Goodmorning. You look beautiful, as always,” Chris replied with a smile, pulling her into his arms. Nessie stiffened, holding her breath. “This okay?” he asked. 

Nessie forced herself to relax, throwing a glance in Jacob's direction. He was visibly shaking, staring off into the woods beside the school. “Yeah, yeah, of course,” Nessie replied, but still, pulled herself away from Chris to grab her bag from Edward.

“Um, do you want to meet my siblings?” she asked.

Chris smiled and whatever he was thinking caused Edward to laugh under his breath. “Yes, definitely.”

“Alright, um. This is Bella, my biological sister.” She gestured to Bella, and Edward wrapped his arm around her waist protectively. Nessie fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Edward, Emmett and Alice, they're all biological siblings. Jasper and his sister, Rosalie. And then, you've met Jacob.”

“And Jacob is...,” Chris hinted.

“A friend of the family,” Nessie replied flawlessly. “And my best friend.”

A smug smirk crossed Chris' face and in the next second, Edward released Bella and threw his arm across Jacob's shoulders. “Let's head to class, hmm?” she heard him whisper. Emmett followed quickly after, leaving the women of the family and Jasper behind to deal with Renesmee and Chris. 

Emmett clapped Jacob on the back as they walked. “Good going, man," he laughed. Jacob shrugged the Cullens off him as Edward chastised his brother.

“Fuck you,” he mumbled back, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I'm fine.”

“Do you want us to ask Esme to call you out?” Edward asked quietly. 

“I'm not a kid, Edward, I said I'm fine!” Jacob yelled, stalking away from the vampires and towards his Economics class just as the bell rang. 

“Well, this should be fun,” Emmett said.

“Shut up, Emmett,” replied Edward.

 

Chris held his hand out for Nessie, threading his fingers through hers and tugging her along. “What do you have first?”

“English,” Nessie replied. “With Professor Radburn.”

“Upstairs, right?” he asked, and Nessie nodded in response. “We still on for tonight?”

“I think so. I didn't have time to ask my parents last night so I'll have to text them during first period and let you know. It should be fine.” Honestly, the thought of having Chris over was making her stomach churn but she wouldn't say that to him, of course. The way Jacob had spat her full name at her during breakfast was still echoing in her head.

“I'll just follow your car home, then, if that's alright. I'm shit with directions. Think I could borrow some shorts and a t-shirt from one of your brothers?” 

Nessie imagined Chris asking Jacob for some clothes. He would probably wolf out right then and there. Still, Nessie smiled and nodded. “I'm sure.”

The day seemed to go by slower than the previous. Nessie tried to pay attention to the Professor's introduction of How to Kill A Mockingbird, but she'd read the book countless times and it held no interest to her anymore. Alice had to nudge her at least twice to keep her from daydreaming in class.

In Algebra II, her uncle didn't force her into consciousness and for that, she adored him. However, she left the class with a rather rude sign taped to her back that had her parents glaring at Emmett for hours. 

By the time lunch rolled around, she finally brought up the topic to her family again since no one had really said anything this morning. “Does anyone mind if Chris comes over after school?”

Jacob stiffened beside her. Edward stared at his daughter with obvious 'do you know what you're getting into here?' eyes. Most of the family, shook their head. Jasper promised he'd clear out of the house if his scent got too strong. Jacob mumbled a half-hearted “I care” under his breath, but Nessie ignored him. 

Bella's eyes flickered between her daughter and her best friend, torn. Clearly, this was hurting Jacob, and would continue to hurt Jacob if it continued. But she couldn't rob her daughter of her choice to _choose_ who she loved. She sighed, deeply, before turning to Edward and letting her shield down. “It's up to your father,” she whispered. 

Edward stared at his wife for just as long, his eyes flickering back to Jacob as well. He'd become a friend, somehow, something Edward never expected. It hurt him to see him so torn apart by this, but Jacob had told them countless times that he would know when Nessie was ready for the truth of their situation, and he would tell her when the time came. 

“If it's alright with Esme and Carlisle, it's alright with me,” Edward finally said, staring at Jacob instead of his daughter. 

Jacob closed his eyes, his fists tightening for a moment before he got up from the table, nearly throwing his chair back in his haste to get away. He stormed out of the lunch room without even dumping his tray in the trashcan. 

Nessie watched him go, feeling her lower lip trembling. Jacob didn't want her, but he didn't want her to be with anyone else, either. His misplaced big brother issues were causing her a world of pain and he didn't even notice. Tonight after Chris left, she vowed, she'd tell him he was free to go if he wanted. She felt an ice-cold hand rest over hers and looked up to see her father staring at her in concern. “Shield, please,” she mumbled to her mother. 

Bella looked at Edward with sympathy, watching his face as Nessie's mind was cut off from his. “Sorry,” she whispered.

 

Jacob refused to talk to her for most of the day. She stuck close to Chris' side all through P.E., pointedly ignoring how Jacob seemed to pay more attention to Tiffany today than he had the day before. Emmett stood across the room laughing at the both of them. 

By the time PE was over, Nessie only going into the locker room to get her things after she was certain Tiffany and her little clique was already in the showers, Jacob had gone from furious to worn out. He didn't wait for her before he left for the parking lot. 

“Ready?” Chris asked, sneaking up on Nessie, a rarity in itself. 

Nessie forced her eyes away from the back of Jacob's head. “Yeah, yeah, of course.” She forced a smile, tucking a curl behind her ear. “See you at the house.” 

Chris nodded and walked towards his truck, throwing his school bag in the passenger seat and starting the engine. Nessie walked over to the passenger side of the car, where Jacob was straddling his bike and putting his helmet on. She stared at him for a few moments, watching him as him as he finished with the straps and placed his hands on the handlebars. Hesitantly, Nessie reached over and placed her hand on top of one of them. Before she could relay anything to him, Jacob snatched his hand away again. 

Nessie was at the very edge of tears, turning to the Volvo and pulling the door open. She couldn't understand in the slightest what had made Jacob hate her so much. She was trying to make friends here, friends other than him so she wouldn't annoy him so much. So it wouldn't hurt so much when he told her he was leaving them. 

They pulled up to the house and Jacob was storming inside before their car had even stopped. Nessie heard his bedroom door slam and something breaking. She couldn't hold her tears any longer and they leaked down her cheeks pathetically. Edward opened her door for her and reaching for her hand to help her out of the car. He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Distantly, she was aware that Chris was pulling up the driveway. She hid her eyes in her father's chest, letting it all out for a few moments. She didn't have to relay anything to him or share her thoughts. He'd already seen them. He ran his fingers through her curls for a few moments, before whispering to her. “Your friend is about to get out of his car. He's very worried about you. I'm going to let go now.”

Nessie nodded in reply and Edward pulled away, kissing her forehead and leaving her alone with Chris. “What's the matter?” he asked immediately, reaching out for her. 

She shook her head. “Just drama with Jacob. It's fine,” she dismissed. More than anything, she didn't want Chris to wrap his arms around her or try to comfort her. “Let's go upstairs.”

As they walked through the house, Nessie tried to be patient with Chris' wandering eyes. She lived in a beautiful [house](https://36.media.tumblr.com/a18570adc9633363bde7d4c5cf5376ba/tumblr_o0l10qrqsD1qcyc6eo1_540.jpg) and though they'd never had guests, she knew it was probably a lot for him to take in. However, he was going too slow for her tastes. She simply wanted him in her room immediately so she could forget the fact that the house was silent and lonely, the very opposite of how it normally was. Jacob was still seething in his bedroom, by the sound of it. Bella and Edward were having a Very Serious talk. Rosalie and Emmett seemed to be doing very Rosalie and Emmett-esque things and Alice and Jasper were nowhere to be seen... well, heard. Carlisle was in his office working and Esme was in the kitchen. Eventually, they made it up to Nessie's room. She threw her bag on her desk chair and walked into her closet to pilfer through her dresser drawers. “Just set your stuff down anywhere. I'm going to change and then I'll ask Emmett if he's got anything you can borrow.” 

Chris nodded in understanding, stripping himself of his blazer and shoes preemptively. Nessie locked herself in her bathroom to change into a tank top and a pair of shorts, her usual lounging attire. On her way out, she threw her dirty uniform in her hamper and pulled the hair tie off her wrist to contain her hair. “Be right back,” she told Chris, exiting the closet and then her bedroom. Emmett was waiting with a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. 

“He can keep those,” Emmett said in near disgust.

“Be nice,” Nessie hissed back, snatching the clothes from him. “Thank you.”

Emmett stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes, making her way back to her bedroom and opening the door. Chris had moved towards her CD collection and was running a finger along the titles. “Here you go. Emmett said you can just keep these so you don't have to change back later.” 

Chris turned towards her, probably expecting her to react to the fact he'd tousled his hair and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt so that his chest was visible, but she just threw the clothes in his direction instead. “Bathroom's through the closet,” she directed, reaching for her backpack and pulling out a few of her folders and textbooks. She heard the door close behind Chris and sighed, flopping down onto the bed. She hated boys.

When Chris emerged, Nessie had already started on her homework. She glanced up at him and patted the bed, offering him a spot. “I've gotta do my homework before we can do anything else or my parents will kill me. Do you have any?” Nessie was lying, of course. She just wasn't as up for company as she had been when she'd first invited Chris over. She hoped maybe he'd get bored and want to go home. 

Instead, he shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded. “Yeah, it's just outside in my truck. I'll go get it.”

Nessie hummed absentmindedly, working out an algebra problem on her paper, one she knew the answer to automatically – without having to work it out. Chris left without another word.

When he came back, he was quiet, sitting on the bed next to her cautiously. “Get lost?” Nessie joked.

“Nope. Had a friendly little run-in with your brother, though.”

Nessie laughed once. “Which one?” she asked, keeping her eyes on her homework as she worked out another problem.

“Jacob.”

She stopped writing, pencil halting on the paper immediately before gaining her composure back and continuing on. She chose not to correct him on Jacob's status in her life. “Yeah? What'd he say?”

“Told me to keep my hands off of you. That you were too good for me and too smart to let me fuck you.” 

Nessie gasped. “Are you serious?” 

“Unfortunately.” The closer Nessie looked, the more tiny indicators she could pick up on. The front of his shirt was wrinkled, as if it had been clenched in Jacob's fist. Chris smelled vaguely of Jacob, too. 

“Be right back,” she said, jumping off the bed and tousling the papers sitting nearby. She stormed down the hall to Jacob's room and found it disappointingly empty. She sniffed the air and listened for his heartbeat. She walked back to her bedroom. “Did he leave?” she asked Chris.

“I assume. He cornered me outside by my truck and then ran off to the woods. Listen, Renesmee. I like you a lot and if I'm being entirely honest, I'd like to see where this could go but if you're brother's going to fuckin' lynch me, I'd rather have my life, you know?”

“Jacob will be fine,” Nessie promised, her stomach churning at the thought of seeing where _anything_ could go with Chris. “I'll talk to him when he comes home. He's just... overprotective.”

Chris stood, walking across the room and reaching out to touch Nessie's cheek. She concentrated on trying her hardest not to show him anything. “Good, because if it's okay with you, I'd really love to kiss you right now.”

Nessie gasped quietly, but nodded after a moment. Chris leaned down slightly, ridding the tiny difference in their height and pressing his lips against hers. They were dry and chapped and she had no earthly idea what she was doing, trying to remember what she'd seen her parents and aunts and uncles do when they kissed. She wrapped her arms around his neck, opening her lips slightly. Chris stuck his tongue between them right away, pressing it against every crevice of her mouth in a way that reminded her of octopus tentacles. He swiped his tongue along her front teeth and gasped loudly, pulling away quickly and looking at her with a strange mix of confusion and hurt. He reached his hand up to his lips and touched two of his fingers to his tongue. When he pulled them away, they were red. Renesmee's eyes zeroed in on them and she could feel the extra saliva in her mouth pooling. 

She took half a step forward as the door to her bedroom was thrown open. Edward was halfway through the door, a hand through his hair nervously. “Um, mom and dad said you had to go home Chris. They forgot Renesmee had … Krav Maga today and she has to be up at the studio in half an hour.”

Chris looked at him strangely, eyes flitting from him to Nessie quickly. “Alright,” he said, gathering his backpack off the bed. “I'll, um. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Renesmee.” 

Nessie nodded, still rooted in the same place she'd been in ever since re-entering the room earlier. Chris stared awkwardly at Edward before moving closer to her and kissing her forehead. Nessie closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe through her mouth harshly. Chris left as quickly as he'd come, and Nessie turned to her father with a hand covering her mouth. 

“I'm so sorry, daddy. I didn't mean to!”

Edward closed his eyes and raised his hand. “Go get a blood bag from the fridge and come back to do your homework. We can talk about it later,” he walked back through the door, sticking his head back in as an afterthought. “I'm not angry.” 

Nessie nodded again and he left. 

Later, when Jacob returned and heard what had happened, he snuck into Nessie's room quietly. She was lying on her side, staring out the window towards the empty sky. “I can hear your big feet come up the stairs, Jacob. I know you're here.”

Jacob sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down behind her and reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder. Nessie flinched slightly. “Heard about what happened. I'm sorry.”

Nessie shrugged, causing his hand to move along with her upper body. “Just shows me not to start up relationships with humans, I guess,” she replied monotonously. “Just be alone for the rest of my life, I suppose. Start collecting cats now.” She rolled over to face Jacob, eyes still deadly staring. She knew she was being a tad bit overdramatic, but she honestly couldn't help it. Everything seemed a bit hopeless right now. “Should be fun. Cats in a house full of vampires and dogs.” Jacob looked lost. Nessie realized he'd never seen her this... numb and emotionless before. She scoffed once, closing her eyes. “If you're still around, that is.”

"What?” Jacob asked immediately, reaching back out for her. “Nessie, why wouldn't I be?”

“Nevermind,” she replied. She definitely didn't want to have this conversation anymore and wasn't entirely sure why she'd let that slip out. “Lay with me.”

She could feel Jacob staring at her but she never opened her eyes to focus on him. Eventually, he caved, lying down with her and wrapping his arms around her waist without hesitation. He hauled her closer, tucking her head under his chin and listening to her breathing. “Never gonna leave you, Nessie.”

Renesmee shuddered. She didn't want him making promises that would make him miserable in the end. “You could, you know? I'd be sad, but I'd get over it. I'd understand.”

“God, what are you talking about?” He pulled her back away from him, demanding her gaze this time.

“You're getting tired of being here, I can feel it. I understand traveling around with my family every couple of years will get exhausting. I'm sure you miss Seth and Leah and Sam and Emily.”

Jacob kept staring at her with the same confused expression. “Nessie,” he said slowly. “You're my – best friend. I _need_ to be wherever you are. I miss the pack, yeah, but I'd miss you more.”

Nessie didn't argue, burrowing her way back into Jacob's chest. “I'm tired,” she replied, changing the subject. “Stay with me til I fall asleep?” 

Jacob kissed her hair. “Yeah, Ness,” he answered distractedly.

By the time the third day of school came, Nessie was already contemplating dropping out and running away from home. She laid in bed for too long and ended up having to rush through getting ready, forgoing a shower entirely. She scrubbed the makeup she'd slept in off her face and threw her hair up into a ponytail, hoping that would suffice. 

Her father didn't even scold her when she ran down the stairs and burst into the kitchen. “Sorry!” she exclaimed as she shrugged on her blazer, avoiding eye contact with Jacob, who was picking apart his bacon. She tried not to dwell on why he hadn't woken her up this morning like she was used to.

Edward smiled smally in a way that made her think she wasn't supposed to have seen it. He stood, taking his plate to the sink and smoothing down her ponytail to kiss the top of her head. “Need a mental health day already?”

Nessie smiled back. “Not yet. I'll save those. Figure I won't get too many of them.”

“You figure correctly,” Bella interrupted. “Now get your butt in the car. We're going to be late.”

With both of them squeezed into the backseat, she couldn't exactly ignore Jacob any longer. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off. “Morning, sleeping beauty.”

Nessie crossed her arms, her eyebrows furrowing in false anger. “YOU were supposed to wake me up, where were you this morning, hmm?”

_Taking a cold shower after waking up with my crotch pressed against your ass all night_ , Jacob thought, causing Edward to growl from the front seat. Nessie whipped around to look at her father. 

“What?” she asked, turning to her mother. She was biting back a smile. “What?!” she asked again, incredulously. 

When no one would answer her, Nessie sat back in her seat and crossed her arms to pout. They pulled up in the school parking lot and into their usual space. Chris was waiting nearby, approaching as the car was put into park. Nessie sighed and reached for her door handle.

“Nessie, wait!” Jacob said suddenly, grasping her wrist and pulling her attention back to him. Nessie looked at him curiously. “Um. My tie. I can't get it quite right, can you redo it?”

“It looks fine to me?”

“Well it isn't. It's um, digging into my neck.”

She smiled smally, but finally turned her whole body to face his and undid his tie. “You'd be a mess without me, do you know that?” she asked playfully.

“Yeah,” he replied, staring at her. “I do.” Edward and Bella got out of the car, Edward leaving his door open slightly as they took too long gathering their belongings. Jacob latched eyes with Chris over Nessie's shoulder and cocked his eyebrow at him, before returning his gaze to Renesmee and placing a very visible hand on her shoulder, fingers tangled in her curls. The bell rang just as Nessie finished the knot, and she pulled away, reaching for her backpack once more and getting out of the car. When she looked up to find Chris, he'd left. Jacob noticed Nessie's relieved expression and smiled cockily. 

She hugged him tightly. “See you at lunch?” 

“Course, Ness. Go on, you're going to be late.” 

Nessie ran along, walking just a bit faster than her normal human pace to make it to class on time. 

“You're playing dirty,” Edward commented as he approached. “Make sure you're not hurting her, will you? Quite tired of seeing my daughter looking so sullen all the time.”

“You're the one who made her enroll in high school,” Jacob replied, shrugging and clapping Edward on the back once before separating towards the maths building.


	3. i will hide you when it gets too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from ["Beside You" from Mariana's Trench](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0z1LH6RJc).
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[Story of My Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-TE_Ys4iwM)" by One Direction  
> \- "[One Call Away](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEXrsQ5W6Z4)" by Charlie Puth  
> \- "[Goodnight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_TrBmson-8)" by Cher Lloyd
> 
> **  
> **  
> Please remember to go back and read from the first chapter. I've changed a few things. Mostly everything is the same, just a few added scenes and longer chapters. I'm rewriting this fic, changing a few things here and there to make it flow better. In the end, it'll help me get out chapters faster.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTEMPTED RAPE.

When the final bell rang on Thursday, Nessie nearly let out a loud cheer in excitement. The end of her very first week of school was over and a three day weekend laid ahead of her. Millions of plans started forming. She could go on runs with Jacob, maybe even talk her parents into a trip to La Push. She'd love to go swimming again before the weather got too cold to go out in case she was seen. Maybe she'd try to go hunting with her parents if they weren't too incredibly disgusting this time around.

She wasn't much paying attention to her surroundings, walking quickly towards the parking lot in effort to get out of this place as soon as possible. When an arm snaked it's way around her waist, she jumped violently, pulling out of the person's embrace.

“Sorry, Renesmee! Didn't mean to scare you, but I've been calling you and trying to catch up with you for the past five minutes,” Chris said with a laugh.

Nessie visibly relaxed. “Yeah, sorry, Chris. I'm just excited to go home. Tough first week.”

Chris' forehead scrunched in concern. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, just used to being homeschooled, is all. Did you want to talk to me about something?” She didn't want to be rude but there were a million places she could name off the top of her head where she'd rather be. 

Chris lit back up as if he'd suddenly just remembered that he'd been following her for five minutes for a reason. “Yeah! I was wondering if you might wanna go out this weekend. Dinner and a movie or something?”

Her stomach felt like a lake with a rather large squid taking refuge in it. “Uh, I've gotta ask my parents and make sure they don't already have plans for us this weekend,” she lied quickly. “I can text you tonight when I find out.”

“Sounds good,” Chris replied with a smile, unswayed. He kissed Nessie's forehead and pulled her into a hug. “I really hope you can -”

“C'mon, Ness! We're home freeeeeeeeeeeee!” Jacob sang as he ran by, grasping Nessie's wrist and pulling her away from the other boy. Her laughter rang out loudly as she shot a look of apology over her shoulder.

“I'll text you!” She pulled her hand from Jacob's grasp and shoved him harshly. Jacob acted offended, sweeping Nessie off her feet in one movement and throwing her over his shoulder. Nessie screamed, torn between hitting Jacob's back and reaching around to make sure her skirt was pinned down. 

Chris stood motionless, figuring he didn't have a chance in hell. 

“So what are we doing this weekend?” Nessie asked Jacob later, barging into his room without knocking and climbing onto the bed over his still body. She plopped her ass down right over his, straddling his waist and playing the drums on his lower back. She'd done so ever since she was young.

“Sleeping,” Jacob replied.

“Boo! You're no fun! It's our first weekend, we made it through the first terrible, horrible week at Berkeley. We should go to La Push or go out and party!”

“I have to go to La Push next weekend for Claire's birthday. I'd rather only make the trip once.”

“Well we could go -”

Jacob rolled over quickly, dislodging Nessie and making her fall to his side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders tightly, pinning her in his grasp. “We're going to sleep, you menace, and you can either chill with me and be quiet or you can go annoy the rest of your family.”

Nessie blew the hair out of her face and crossed her arms the best she could. “Fine then, I guess I'll just have to call Chris and accept his offer to take me out this weekend.”

She wrestled out of Jacob's embrace and off his bed quickly, high-tailing it to her bedroom and grabbing her phone off the bed. She scrolled through her contacts, hearing Jacob following her and clicked Chris' name, putting the phone to her ear and listening as it rang. Jacob ran through her bedroom door, reaching for the phone but failing to take hold of it due to Nessie's quick dodges. 

“Hello?”

“Chris, hey!” 

Jacob made another lunge for the phone and Nessie squeezed by him, running back through her door.

“Hey, Renesmee! What's up?” 

“I, uh -” she ran down the first flight of stairs, Jacob hot on her toes, jumping over the banister on the second flight and landing perfectly. “I wanted to let you know that I could go out with you this weekend.”

Her parents were in the living room as she ran by, paying her absolutely no attention, even after Jacob jumped over the couch in between their heads to catch up with her. Nessie ran through the back door and into the yard, contemplating running for the woods. That would give Jacob the upperhand however, given that he was a wolf. 

“Really? That's awesome! Um, say like 7 Saturday night?” 

Jacob finally caught up with her, her contemplating causing her to slow down, and wrestled her into his arms again. 

“Yeah, seven sounds great! Can'twaitgottago!” she hung up quickly, shimming out of Jacob's arms victoriously. 

Jacob growled at her, just a hair shy of being menacing. 

“What's up Jacob? Did you wanna go for a run or something?” she asked with fake innocence. Jacob seethed, but didn't reply. “Alright, well then you can go back to _sleep_ and I'll see if Aunt Alice wants to go find an outfit for my date tomorrow night.” She walked past him, making her way back into the living room and starting for the stairs when her father's voice stopped him.

“I don't recall telling you you could go out with that boy, Renesmee.” 

Nessie's smug smile fell, and she rounded the front of the sofa to face him. “Well can I?”

“No.”

She stomped her foot and crossed her arms, putting the perfect amount of whine in her voice. “But Daddy, why?”

Edward looked at her in a way that told her she knew exactly why he didn't want her going out with Chris and it had a lot to do with the fact that she'd almost eaten him alive a few days prior. “I lost control once but it won't happen again,” she promised.

“No, Renesmee.”

“Daddy!”

“I SAID NO!” 

Nessie screamed out her frustrations. 

“What if I went with her,” offered a voice from behind. Nessie rolled her eyes. This was just fucking perfect. “I'll keep to the shadows and keep an eye on her. If things get out of hand, I'll step in.”

Edward seemed to consider this option, tilting his head to the side and switching his gaze back and forth between Renesmee and Jacob. 

“Renesmee?” Edward offered. Nessie ignored him. “I'm willing to go along with that if you are.”

Nessie uncrossed her arms and visibly deflated. “Fine, whatever, Jake can come with us,” she conceded. “May I be excused?”

Edward quirked an eyebrow. “Yes.”

“I'm going for a run. Alone,” she directed Jacob. 

Jacob shirked away, hands raised in defense as Nessie turned on her heel and ran towards the trees. A few miles into the distance stands a tree marked with hot pink spray paint. It's the mark that tells her where her father's mind reading abilities stop. She and Jacob had approximated it when they'd first arrived, checking it by thinking the dirtiest, most inappropriate thoughts they could muster and seeing if he responded to them when they arrived back home. 

She sat down on a stump just past the marked tree and withdrew her cell phone from her pocket, shooting a quick message to Chris. 

The next day, Nessie slept in until noon and absolutely loved herself again. Waking up at six am every morning just to go sit in a boring classroom with shallow teenagers was really putting a damper on her relationship with her bed. Afterward, she shoveled two bowls full of Cocoa Pebbles into her mouth while reading a book on quantum physics. Once she was satisfied both physically and mentally, she set out to find her Uncle Emmett, eventually running into him in the garage. He sat in the front seat of his now very old Jeep whilst Aunt Rosalie laid beneath it, just her red heels visible. 

“Uncle Emmett!” she exclaimed, running over to him excitedly.

“What do you want?”

Nessie crossed her arms and did her best to look affronted instead of amused. “Why do you think I want something?”

“Because if you didn't, you'd be spending your weekend with Jacob, and your poor old Uncle Emmett wouldn’t get any of your attention.” Well, shit. Now she kinda felt terrible. “I'm just kidding, kid. Come on, tell me what's up.”

Nessie smiled, bringing the palm of her hand to his cheek. She relayed memories of her father and uncles going out on hunting trips together, just the three of them. How excited they always looked, how they'd rough house a bit before leaving, how long it had been since they'd gone on one. Then she relayed visions of Edward moping. Granted, she had to make some of them up because Edward was generally a pretty happy man, but it got the job done.

“You think your dad's in need of a good stag night?” 

Nessie nodded happily.

“This wouldn't have anything to do with the human you're going out with, would it?”

“Um, no,” Nessie lied nervously. It hurt to lie to her Uncle, but really, her freedom was on the line here. “No, Chris asked me out for tomorrow night.” See, that wasn’t really a lie, per say. She hadn't lied much. 

Emmett continued looking at her very skeptically for a few moments, but finally gave in. “Alright. I'll see what he's up to tonight.”

Nessie smiled, throwing her arms around her uncle's neck. “Thank you, Uncle Emmett!”

At 5:23, Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle and Edward were hooting and hollering and leaving the house.

At 6:45, Nessie started running through the woods toward the closest mall, the agreed upon place for she and Chris to meet. 

Nessie had just enough time to lick her finger and wash a dirt streak off the back of her hand, and run her fingers through her curls before Chris' car pulled into the parking lot of the mini mart down the street from her house. He smiled at her as she approached the passenger side, opening the door and ducking inside quickly. 

“Why'd you wanna meet here? I remember where your place is, you know?” he teased, going in for a hug. Nessie returned it happily.

“I'll tell you when we get to the theater,” Nessie promised.

He nodded and fiddled with the radio, trying to find a decent song playing. Nessie didn't much like mainstream music. She'd grown up on classical music and rock. With a sigh, Chris gave up, turning off the radio and laying his hand on Nessie's knee instead. “So, what movie did you wanna see?”

Part of her really wanted to shove his hand off her leg, tell him to let her out immediately, that she'd run back home and hope no one had noticed her absence. The other half knew this would happen in any relationship she tried to have outside of Jacob. “I don't mind,” she mumbled. “Whatever you wanna see is fine.”

Her cell phone started blowing up halfway through dinner.

She turned it off immediately, apologizing to Chris, who looked at her skeptically. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," she assured, shoving another forkful of spaghetti into her mouth to avoid having to say more. It seemed to work. Instead, Chris talked about himself. And football, and his ex-girlfriend Tiffany, and his schedule, and his parents, and his cars. By the time they left the restaurant, Nessie was honestly wondering if sneaking out of her house had even been worth it. 

They made their way to the movies in near silence. Chris still hadn't found anything on the radio, but he'd seemingly ran out of things to say about himself as well. He parked miles away from the theater, complaining about people scratching his car as he looked around at the nearby cars in distrust. He bought their tickets to some sort of scary movie and ushered them inside. As they took their seats, Chris dug out his phone. "Selfie?"

Nessie complied, smiling into the camera as he snapped the shot and asked for her instagram handle.

The movie was ridiculous, to say the least. Insanely gorey with more jump scares than anything. The most it did was make Nessie a tad bit thirsty, which she stamped down immediately.

When they returned to Chris' car, the corner of the parking lot he'd parked in now deserted, Chris pulled Nessie's hand along behind him and led her into the backseat instead. And Nessie wasn't stupid, she knew what Chris wanted, climbed into the backseat with him willingly. Well, mostly. "Thought we could have a bit of fun before I took you home," Chris murmured, sitting down and pulling her onto his lap. Nessie straddled his hips naturally while Chris ran a hand along her ass. She closed her eyes to avoid the thirst she saw in his. He pressed his lips to hers and she wasted no time in opening her lips for him this time, noticing how he avoided her teeth smartly. His hands ran down her back and sides, gripping at her clothing. Nessie chose to rest hers awkwardly on his chest. 

Kissing Chris... disappointing. There wasn't much to it. It didn't mean much to her, sparks didn't fly, her whole life didn't flash before her eyes. She didn't see herself marrying him or asking him to turn for her or hoping that maybe she could have a life with him. He made butterflies flutter in her stomach, but not the good kind, more of the nervous kind, the I'm-going-to-be-sick sort. But Chris was the first boy who'd ever shown her an ounce of attention other than Jacob, and Jacob was sadly uninterested in her, so she'd have to settle for Chris. 

Chris bucked his hips once, almost as if he noticed Nessie's mind was miles away, and moaned loudly, pulling his lips away from hers and latching onto her neck instead. With her eyes now open, she could see the fog covering the windows, making it impossible to see more than basic shapes and lighting through the glass. Chris' hands snuck down Nessie's back and to her ass, clutching it in his hands and rolling her hips into his. "C'mon baby, move with me," he asked with a husky voice. 

And Nessie listened, rolling her hips as he'd done for her a second prior and feeling Chris hard against her. She knew it should probably turn her on that she'd done that to him, but all it did was make her sick. Chris' hands made their way to the front of Nessie's jeans, unlatching the button and the zip before she realized what was happening. 

"Chris, no, I'm not ready for -" Before she could finish, Chris had moved them, laying her down on the backseat of the car and hovering over her. He pressed one knee between her legs and pinning her arms by her head in one of his fists. His lips returned to her neck while the other hand returned to her pants. Nessie started panicking, thrashing as much as she could without really giving away her strength. "Get off me, Chris, I swear to God I -" Chris pressed his lips against hers to keep her quiet, forcing her lips open with his tongue. In a small spark of inspiration, Nessie opened her mouth willingly and the moment Chris' tongue entered it, she snapped down hard. 

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" Chris screamed, albeit a bit slurred, jumping off of her as best as he could in the small space. The scent of his blood filled the cab quickly and for a millisecond, Nessie honestly considered tasting him again. Her wits returned almost immediately as she sat up and threw the back door open, fleeing at a faster than human pace and not giving a single shit. 

The theater was a fair bit away from her home, but as soon as she found some trees, she started running through them, hoping they connected to the woods near her home. After about five minutes, it was obvious they didn't. She stopped, leaning against a tree to try to gather her surroundings. She didn't notice anything that stuck out at her, anything that told her where she was. For all she knew, she could've been accidentally running towards Canada. 

A sob wracked her body before she even realized it was coming. She held her mouth in one hand tightly, sliding down the tree and crouching near the ground as she cried. She'd disobeyed her parents, snuck out of her home, and for what? A human boy who didn't understand the word 'no'. If she'd been a human, she would've been raped or killed in the backseat of Chris' car. 

A rustle of leaves nearby caused Nessie to stand up quickly, swallowing her tears and getting ready to flee. Only after she saw who her attacker was did she relax. "Jake," she whispered. She ran towards him, throwing her arms around his neck and crying against his bare chest. Jacob held her tightly, fingers trailing through her curls. 

"Nessie, thank God," he replied. "We've been so worried about you." This only caused Renesmee to sob harder, her body convulsing against Jacob's terribly. "Calm down, babe. What happened?"

Nessie shook her head against his skin, refusing to tell him and unable to stop her tears. Everything started piling up together. Her feelings for Jacob, stressing over school, trying to make herself feel something for Chris, the incident in the car. Everything had come to a peak and it was just too much. Jacob sighed, swooping down and picking up her legs to carry her bridal style back through the woods. "Please?" he asked, resting his cheek against the arm she had thrown over his neck. "Show me?"

Despite her tears, Nessie pulled her arm away, placing her palm against Jacob's cheek, showing him everything that had happened since she'd left the house, working hard to make sure that was _all_ she showed him. He growled and tightened his hold on her, but stayed quiet as she continued to sob.

Sometime on the way home, she had completely exhausted herself and her tears stopped as she fell asleep.

Jacob stared down at her as they walked. She was beautiful, even like this, with mascara colored tears staining her cheeks and leaves in her hair. He could smell the blood on her breath and he feared the worst, feared they'd have to move and someone's murder would have to be covered up after he got ahold of Chris. Not that he would mind moving again. Hell, he hated the school they were stuck at this time around, especially the other students there. It wasn't doing Renesmee any good either. 

God, he loved her so much. More than he could've ever imagined. His love for her had evolved and grown since she was born; first resembling that of an elder brother, then a friend, and then more recently, he'd started thinking of her as a partner. 

Jacob worked hard to clear his thoughts the closer he got to the house. Edward would be listening out for any sign that he'd returned home with her, and rather than hear his fawning over his daughter, Jacob decided to repeat a mantra of _she's okay, I've got her, she's alright, she's safe._

Edward met him at the edge of the woods, his face drained completely of the angry rage he'd been in when he originally noticed Renesmee's absence. He ran his hand over her cheek and kissed her head, and stupidly, Jacob felt a bit protective. He wanted to clutch Nessie to him tighter, pull her away from Edward's hands. _He_ was comforting her right now, not Edward. "She's sleeping, leave her be," Jacob said quietly, ignoring Edward's harsh glare.

Jacob strode past him anyway, through the house and past a distraught Bella. When he reached her room, he laid her down on the bed gently, unstrapping her sandals from her feet and throwing them in the general direction of her closet. He took her cell phone from her pocket and plugged it into the charger, ignoring the text messages that lit up the screen and pulling the duvet from beneath her gently and covered up to her waist like she preferred. "Goodnight, Renesmee," he whispered, running his fingers along her cheek once more and leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. 

"Stay," she replied with a scratchy voice, reaching out for him. "Please don't leave me."

His heart broke. "I won't," he promised, lifting the duvet again and sliding underneath it as she scooted over to allow him more space. "I promise I'm never leaving you."

Nessie hummed, lying her head over his heart and curling tightly against his side. 

 

Jacob broke his promise two hours later, but not permanently. He needed to shower and make sure Edward was alright with him sleeping in the same bed as his daughter tonight. And piss. He'd had to piss for an hour and a half. 

Slowly, he pulled away from Nessie, rolling her onto her opposite side gently. She hummed in her sleep and moved around a bit, but finally settled, and let Jacob free. He stared at her for a few moments. He wasn't stupid in the slightest. Chris' intentions were 100% obvious and malicious, and he wanted nothing more than to rip the punk's throat out and watch his blood spill onto the ground until it colored the grass black. Or maybe he'd let the Cullens help. Edward, at least. Might as well get some use of the man, after all. 

Nessie shuddered in her sleep, the trail his fingertips were following against her cheek tickling her slightly. He withdrew his hand and replaced it with a kiss at her temple instead. “I love you,” he whispered, closing his eyes and resting his head lightly against hers. 

With persisting pressure from his bladder, he was finally able to pull away completely, walking across the hallway to his bathroom and straight into the bedroom, stripping as he went. He turned on the water when he was done, waiting for it to get scalding before stepping under the stream. With the water raining over his face, he finally allowed it to crumble. He wanted to push his fist through the tile, not just to break something, but to watch the skin on his knuckles turn to shreds. It still wouldn't give him the satisfaction he needed though. He knew he'd heal just as quickly as it would take to pull his hand away from the wall. 

Instead, he let his tears fall and his thoughts wander as he washed himself on auto-pilot. He repeated the same thing over and over to himself, wouldn't let himself forget it: If he'd only been upfront with Renesmee from the start, told her all about imprinting and what that meant for the two of them, she wouldn't have been in that car with Chris. He felt like screaming, cursing at the top of his lungs, jumping from a building just to see if he'd still exist afterwards. The only thing that grounded him was Renesmee. 

Not wanting to be away from her for long, he washed his hair quickly, turning off the faucet and running a towel over his body half-assed. He walked into the closet that joined his bedroom and his bathroom and opened a few drawers on the dresser, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt. He'd sweat his ass off tonight, probably, but sleeping naked wasn't an option when he was living in the same house as Renesmee this time around. 

A light knock sounded against his door the second he pulled his shirt over his head. He pulled it down over his abs as he walked into his bedroom. Edward was standing in the doorway, awaiting his arrival. 

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Edward said. He sounded pained and looked distracted. 

Jacob walked a few steps closer before stopping and shrugged. “Didn't do anything”

“You found her, consoled her, put her to bed. You knew she was in danger and tracked her down. None of us could have done it nearly as well, based on scent alone. Your connection to her got her home to us.”

Again, Jacob shrugged, but didn't say anything this time. Instead, turning his gaze to his feet. The next thing he knew, Edward's hand was resting against his shoulder, burning like dry ice against his overheated skin. Jacob's lower lip was trembling again, but he forced his face down lower, wouldn't let Edward see him at his weakest. “It's my fault,” he said, his voice cracking miserably. 

Edward pulled Jacob against him and it was quite a sight: tanned, oversized Jacob Black crying into pale, skinny Edward Cullen's shoulder. “It isn't, Jacob.”

“If I had told her about imprinting from the start, told her she was mine if she wanted to be, she would've never been in that car with Chris. We all know she wants this and I've been shutting her down left and right, putting distance between us, and for what?”

“Because it didn't feel like the right time, Jacob. It didn't feel like she was ready. We all agreed no one would tell her until she was ready because we wanted her to know she had a choice in the matter.” Jacob shook his head and then pulled himself off of Edward, rubbing his hand across his eyes miserably before taking a seat on the bed. 

“I'm just so angry at myself. I don't – I don't know what to do with all of this anger. Normally, I'd phase but -”

“But you don't want to leave her.” Jacob nodded. “You know, I don't think I've ever told you, but you're one hell of a man.” 

“Who would've thought those words would come out of your mouth?” Jacob said with a half-hearted chuckle.

“Eight years ago, they wouldn't have.”

Behind them, across the hall, Nessie was starting to toss and turn in her bed. Both men, turned to face the open door, watching her as her eyebrows furrowed and she reached for something. In her haze, the movement only lasted a few seconds before she settled again. 

“Better get back in there before she wakes up, then,” Edward said, turning to leave.

Jacob smiled. “I'm going to tell her next weekend. When we go down to La Push. Is that alright?”

“I think you'd be saving this family a hell of a lot of teenage drama if you do,” he replied with a smile. “Just, uh, go slow, will you? She's still my child and there's a lot of things I'll end up knowing that a father never should, but try to save me unnecessary stress?”

“Not even thinking those things yet,” Jacob promised. Edward's eyebrow rose. “Well, not seriously contemplating actually following through with them.”

“Jake...” A fragile voice called and Jacob glanced at Edward for half a second before springing off the bed and returning to her side.

“'M here, baby. Just had to shower.” 

Nessie didn't reply, but cuddled back into his side and rested her head against his chest again. “I love you,” she mumbled hazily and Jacob froze. 

“I love you, too, babe,” he whispered a few seconds later. 

Edward looked on, still rooted in his place in Jacob's room. She was done growing up, and she'd barely been his before she'd become someone else's. _She's her own person,_ his brain chastised him and he nodded to himself. Renesmee Carlie Cullen had never belonged to anybody but herself.


	4. i've got a fire for a heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from ["Drag Me Down" by One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwgf3wmiA04).
> 
>  
> 
> **Please make sure you go back and re-read the first three chapters. Not much changed in the first two, just some scenes here and there and some small edits. The last scene of chapter three is rather important, though, so make sure you at least read that if you don't wanna reread the others.**
> 
>  
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[The Kids Aren't Alright](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7U7_cKJw4)" by Fall Out Boy  
> \- "[Fix You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY9b6jgbNyc)" by Coldplay  
> \- "[This is Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiCLYjerngs)" by Backstreet Boys

When Nessie awoke the following day, she remained in bed for quite a bit, sighing and staring at the ceiling. She could hear Jacob walking around in the kitchen and could tell he'd gotten up not too long ago by the minimal amount of talking he was doing. She replayed the night before over in her head a few times before it got to be entirely too much, and made her way into the shower instead. She felt disgusting, and she figured it had very little to do with running through the woods. 

She stood in the shower for too long, as well, washing and re-washing her hair three times before the water grew cold and she sat down on the floor and rested her chin on her knees out of its' spray. She knew her parents knew she was awake, could tell she was stalling in the shower. However, she really, really didn't want to go downstairs and hear how stupid she'd been while they dished out her punishment. 

Over everything, she wanted to just curl up with Jacob and lie in his arms for a bit. Jacob seemed to make everything better, and that scared her quite a bit, especially with his most recent behavior. She figured she was truly a lost cause now. She'd tried again with Chris only to end up worse off than she had the first time and the feeling of hopelessness had settled over her again. 

A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. “Ness?” Jacob called through the wood. 

She didn’t reply.

“Ness, come on, it's time to get out of there and come downstairs. You've got to eat something.” Nessie ignored him and she heard him sigh. She heard another voice, low, whispered. Her father. Jacob repeated his words louder. “If you'll get out of there and get dressed, I'll bring you up a blood bag. Won't even have to go downstairs or see anyone. Not even me, if that's – if that's what you'd like,” he stumbled over his words, unsure. In reply, Nessie shut off the water, and reached for the towel hanging off the wall. Jacob sighed again. 

“Alright, I'm leaving now. Take your time getting dressed. I'll come back in a bit with your breakfast, alright?” She still didn't answer, but it didn't seem like he'd expected one. She heard the bedroom door close and his footsteps recede. 

She dried herself off, toweling through her hair absentmindedly, before walking into her closet and dressing herself in a pair of shorts and a hoodie. When Jacob knocked on her bedroom door again, she was curled under the duvet. She called out for him to come in and he did, tentatively raising the blood bag up slightly, as if to show why he'd come. 

Nessie sat up and reached for it, patting the bed next to her when he went to leave. She gulped hungrily, leaning back against Jacob's chest as she let the blood fill her. She hadn't realized how hungry she'd been. 

“Would you like to talk about it?”

Nessie shook her head. 

“How are you feeling?” Jacob tried again.

Nessie pulled the drained bag away from her lips and placed it on her bedside table, lying back down. Jacob followed her lead, tensing a bit when Nessie immediately rolled into his arms and laid against his chest. “Please,” she begged quietly, and it killed Jacob. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her, kissing her hair and holding her like she liked. She was quiet for a bit longer, before finally speaking up. “Feel gross,” she said.

“No,” Jacob replied. “No, baby, you're not gross. _Chris_ is absolutely disgusting for what he did last night, and it is not your fault in the slightest. I'll be taking care of him Monday, no matter what Edward says.”

Nessie pressed her face further into Jacob's chest, feeling tears lining her eyes. “Hate it here so much. Hate feeling like this all the time.”

“Feeling how?” Jacob encouraged.

“Hopeless.”

He sighed. “Wish I could help you not feel that way, Ness. Wish I knew how.”

_Stay!_ She wanted to scream. _Love me!_ Instead, she let the tears go, staining Jacob's shirt. Jacob pulled her body around until she was lying on top of him entirely, holding her closer to him.

“We can stay cooped up in here as long as you'd like, but you do know you're going to have to face your parents eventually, right? And that the longer you stay in here, the more time they have to come up with your punishment?” 

Nessie laughed slightly and Jacob could feel the movement of her stomach against his. It made him smile, as well. “Yeah,” she mumbled against him. “But I don't wanna.”

“What if I stay with you? Would that help any?” 

She turned her head, lying her cheek against him now, so he could hear her clearly. “Yeah, a bit. Don't want them asking any questions.”

“They won't. I promise,” he said. When she didn't reply an affirmative, he continued. “Edward's quite worried about you, you know? Bella is as well, but Edward's been pacing holes into the floor.”

Nessie sighed dramatically, pulling out of his embrace. “Fine. I'll go down now. And then, we're going to curl up on the couch and watch a movie of my choice and you will have no say at all.”

“Sounds good,” Jacob said with a laugh.

 

The following day, it was her father that woke her up instead of Jacob. She opened her eyes to him sitting on the edge of her bed, shaking her lightly. It reminded her of the times when she was younger, in the days leading up to the Volturi's visit when he would stay in her room from sundown to sunrise, just watching her sleep. She rid herself of those thoughts quickly, not wanting to dwell on them. 

 

“Get dressed and come downstairs. You and I are going hunting,” he said simply.

She wasn’t very thirsty, especially after the blood bags her family and Jacob had been spoiling her with lately, but she nodded anyway, dressing in a pair of jeans and light hoodie. 

They hadn't walked very far into the woods before her father let the hunting facade drop. “I feel like there's a lot we should be talking about. Sometimes I forget that just because I have constant access to your mind, it doesn't replace verbal communication.”

Nessie smiled smally, nodding as they reached a fallen tree. She hoisted herself atop it, patting the space next to her in invitation to her father until he sat as well.

“How was your first week of school?” he started. Nessie cut her eyes over to his, frowning. “Yes, yes, I know you hated it. But your classes? Did you like those?”

“Eh,” Nessie replied. “I love piano, for sure. Health and P.E. definitely aren't favorites. The others are a bit boring, just because I know most of it. Uncle Jasper likes to whisper corrections in History a lot, so that's funny.”

“And English? Biology? Algebra?”

Nessie shrugged. “Reteaching me things I already know.”

“Yes well,” Edward sighed. “We mostly just wanted you to get used to being around humans, anyway.” They were silent for a few moments. “Have you made any friends?”

Nessie shook her head, staring at the leaves on the forest floor.

“Look, Renesmee,” Edward ran a hand through his hair, heaving out a loud sigh out of habit. “I understand you're feeling rather... alone, right now. Between Tiffany and Chris and the tension between you and Jacob lately... I understand it feels like you're barely treading water, but I promise you: it will be alright.”

Nessie scoffed. “You don't know that.”

Edward tapped his temple. “But I do.”

“No, daddy, it won't. I still have to face Chris tomorrow, I still have to deal with Tiffany in the locker room and I still have to deal with Jacob only being half there every minute we spend together!” She let her gaze fall back down to her shoes, kicking them back and forth lightly. “I just wish he'd just, like... _go_ if that's what he wanted. Instead of making me feel like this.”

Edward laid a hand on her knee. “How do you feel?” 

“A bit heartbroken,” she said, tears making their way into her voice without her permission. She shook her head, forcing her eyes to the sky to prevent gravity from making the tears fall as she blinked them away. “And I know that's, like, so stupid, because Jacob has never given me any reason to think we're anything more than just friends and he's a bajillion years older than me and why would he want some brat he's watched grow up from a fucking infant?” Her father cleared his throat. “Sorry. 'Sjust, it feels sorta... shitty, daddy.”

She looked over at her father, finally, not caring anymore if she was a bit teary eyed. Edward pulled her into his side. “I know,” he whispered. “I know it does. I've lived for quite a bit now, and I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that there is nothing worse than heartbreak. And me promising you won't feel like this forever does absolutely _nothing_ to make that feeling go away. Nothing I can say will. However, I do think you need to stop doubting yourself, stop trying so hard to be who you _think_ you should be and start being who you want to be. Jacob will do what Jacob feels is right, and nothing you can say or do will change that, love. So you get up every day and you wear your clothes _how you want to_ , and you do your makeup _how you want to_ , and you spend your free time _how you want to_ and for the most part, you even _say_ what you want to, and you don't let anyone – not even me, or your mother, and especially not Jacob Black – get in the way of that. Don't let anyone get in the way of you loving yourself as much as you deserve to be loved, Renesmee.”

The tears were coming down in streams now. “Thank you, Daddy,” Nessie replied, her voice breaking slightly as she pressed her face against his shirt. 

“We all love you quite a lot, you know? Any of us would gladly spend time with you, if you need the space from Jacob for a bit.”

“Hurts to be away from him, though.”

Edward hummed. “I think we should talk about Chris, as well, darling.” Nessie sighed, but didn't answer him, so Edward took it as confirmation to continue. “You know what happened wasn't your fault, correct? Even if you did sneak out of the house, and agree to meet up with him and even if you agreed to have sex with him but changed your mind. Him forcing himself on you was wrong.”

“I know,” Nessie answered smally, but Edward knew she still didn’t believe it.

“I'm serious, Renesmee. Even if you thought you wanted it at first, and then decided you didn't, and told him to stop and he didn't stop, he was wrong.”

“That isn't what happened. I never told him I'd sleep with him. We were just kissing.”

“You were doing a bit more than kissing, love.” If Nessie were human, she'd probably be beet red. However, sex was a fairly casual topic in their house. She'd known what it was before she was even a year old. It wasn't something to be taken lightly, mind you, but it was a normal part of life. “Fact remains, you told him no, you told him to stop, and he still tried forcing himself on you. Chris was wrong.”

Nessie nodded again and thankfully her father didn't push the topic anymore. They sat in their tree for another hour before jumping down and walking back to the house. 

When they returned, Edward didn't mention to Bella what they'd been talking about and neither did Nessie to Jacob. She simply found him lying on the sofa playing video games, wedged herself in between his chest and the controller and ducked her head out of the way so that he could still play, pressing a hand against his chest to relay that she just needed the cuddle time and he should continue playing his game.

 

When they returned to school Monday, Jacob's protectiveness over her had been multiplied times ten. From the moment they stepped out of the car, his arm was around her waist and he was glaring at anyone who dared look her way. 

Nessie rolled her eyes at Jacob, but was secretly happy for the affection, as ill-placed as it was. They didn't see Chris anywhere in the parking lot or along the walk to English and Nessie was grateful. When Jacob dropped her off at the door of her classroom, it was with his arms wrapped around her in a tight hug and his lips pressed to her forehead. 

“I'll be fine, Jake. Probably won't even see him until P.E.” It didn't ease Jacob in the slightest. “You've gotta get to class,” she insisted. 

He let go after a long sigh, pulling away from her and whispering something to Alice, causing her to make a sour face at him, before walking away. Nessie rolled her eyes at her aunt, a sentiment returned by the elder vampire. 

“Attention Berkeley Bears!” the morning announcements started as they rushed towards their desks to take a seat. Professor Radburn glared at them from the front, they'd been just a millisecond after the bell, but it seemed she didn't want to do the paperwork necessary to document their tardiness. Nessie tuned most of the announcements out. They were pretty much irrelevant to her. She didn't have a car without a parking pass on it out in the parking lot, nor did she desire joining the Chess Team. Instead, she gathered the necessary materials for the class from her backpack, laying them out neatly on the desk, starting on the Daily Journal prompt on the board. “Any student wishing to join the Berkeley Academy Varsity or Junior Varsity Cheerleading Squad should meet Jessica Bryant in the gym with their parents on Thursday at seven p.m. for an information session.”

At this, Nessie's attention was piqued. Cheerleading. Honestly, she'd probably be great at it. She was flexible and tiny and strong. And she'd be fulfilling the sport's requirement. And it'd probably make her father happy to see her showing interest in something other than Jacob. She'd have to ask their permission of course, but she supposed they couldn’t exactly object – going to school at Berkeley meant she'd have to be active in at least one sport for at least one year before she graduated. Jacob & Emmett were going to try out for the football team, Edward for the baseball team. If they could play sports and pass as a human, she could too, right?

The announcements ended and Professor Radburn called their attention back to the journal prompt. Nessie filed the thoughts away for later. 

_Create a list of ten words you could not live without. Explain your reasoning._

 

Jacob was a bit more relaxed leaving Nessie with Emmett for Algebra. She wanted to yell at him that he was being ridiculous, but then she would remember Chris' fingers pinning her wrists down, his tongue shoved in her mouth, and was more than happy to have him by her side. It wasn't that she needed him, or any of them, to defend her. She was more than able to take care of herself. Sometimes, though, it was easier for her to let them stand by her side.

Biology was an hour of notes on the scientific process and worried glances from her parents.

By the time American History came around, she was happy just to spend the hour next to someone who wasn't fawning over her well-being so obviously. Uncle Jasper worried about her, of course, but not to the visible extent the rest of the family did. He was quite a bit more “chill” and she appreciated the distinctive difference greatly. He smiled at her as she made her way into the seat next to him, pulling out her binder and dating the top of her paper for today's notes. 

At lunch, Nessie finally brought light to the topic she'd been mulling over in her head all day. “I'm thinking of trying out for the cheerleading squad.”

“Don't they usually start tryouts during the summer?” Bella asked, looking a bit worried.

“There aren't as many high schools in Alaska, and therefore less football and cheerleading teams, so the sports seasons start later in the year,” Edward explained quietly.

Her aunts and uncles all wore slight smiles – Rosalie's was more like a grimace but that was neither here nor there. Jacob was a bit harder to read. He seemed torn between offering a nonchalant congratulations and scoffing at the idea. Nessie tore her face from his and turned to her parents. She didn't need his approval. “There's an information session this Friday at seven. I know it'll look strange, since only my 'legal guardians' are supposed to come, but I'd really appreciate it if you would consider coming.”

“Of course,” Bella answered quickly.

The bell rang a few minutes later, signaling the end of the lunch period. Nessie stood, reaching for her backpack and shrugging it over her shoulder. Jacob took both of their trays, dumped them in the trash and left without a word. Nessie watched him go.

“I'm proud of you,” her father said over the commotion, throwing an arm haphazardly around her shoulder. “I think this will be great for you.”

Nessie hummed. “I hope so.”

 

Nessie chose to approach the subject again with Jacob later during Study Hall. She knew she could just place a finger atop his hand, but chose instead to rip a piece of paper from one of her spirals and start writing a note instead. 

_Why don’t you want me trying out for the cheerleading squad?_

She slid it across the few inches of table that separated them and went back to working on her Algebra homework so she wouldn't have to see him reading it. 

_It's not that I don’t want you doing it. I'm just worried for you. You could get hurt. And I'm not sure why you're doing it. You'll end up convincing your father to let you do homeschooling again by next year._

Nessie rolled her eyes. _I'll be fine. And I want to do it for fun, to make friends. I would hope you'd want that for me._

She heard him sigh. _I want whatever makes you happy. You know that, Ness._

_Haven't been so sure lately, actually._

The bell rang shortly afterward, saving Nessie from Jacob's reply. She shoved her things into her backpack quickly, flitting away from her family despite Jacob's calls. He was stuck in a limbo, unsure of how to treat Renesmee until he took her to La Push this weekend and told her the truth.

Already halfway across the school, Nessie realized that she hadn't taken into account that Jacob shared the next two classes with her. She slowed her pace, turning into the nearest restroom. A few girls kept each other company in front of the mirror as they touched up their makeup. When they saw Nessie, two of them scattered, whispering to one another. 

She supposed that meant Tiffany and Chris had made her into even more of a pariah than she'd been before meeting them. Nessie ignored them, locking herself into one of the stalls and leaning back against the door, hanging her backpack on the hook on the wall and picking at her nails. The rest of the girls left, the bell rang, and Nessie stayed put. 

She'd get points for this, of course. Two, if she calculated correctly, but she didn't much care. Hell, she was begging them to expel her at this point. Any reason to not have to come to this hellhole any longer would be fine with her.

She was starting to get tired of standing, but she didn't much want to sit on the toilet, so she moved out of the stall and onto the counter. She hoped Emmett wouldn't rat her out to her parents for skipping Health and P.E. She figured she could lie to them and say she was nervous about seeing Chris in P.E., if her mother was shielding her, but she didn't have a valid excuse for Health. 

She was growing bored quickly, and her mind was starting to head towards thoughts she was trying to keep buried, worries about Jacob and Chris and the likes. Why was Jacob so hot and cold with her? This morning, he'd been overprotective and clingy and now, she hadn't even gotten a text from him when he got to class and noticed she wasn't there. Maybe he really didn't care. Maybe he'd just felt an obligation to keep her safe, and nothing more. 

Deep inside, she knew that wasn't true. If nothing else, Jacob cared for her in a brotherly manner. But often times, her thoughts ran rampant without her consent, and lately, they did so in Jacob's direction. And she still hadn't run into Chris since their incident in the parking lot, not that she was looking forward to it. This school was big, but not that big. She should've at least seen him in the hallway. Maybe he was scared of Jacob and her family. She would be, if she were him. They were pretty furious. 

Remembering suddenly that Emmett was still mad at her for lying to him, she realized he probably would tell her parents she'd skipped. With a sigh, she hopped off the counter, retrieving her bag from the stall and starting towards Health. She'd still get the one point for being tardy, but maybe she could B.S. the teacher about starting her period early, or something. Professor Maddox had no way of knowing she didn't menstruate.

She pushed through the bathroom door and walked down the hallway, headed towards the double doors that would lead her outside and in the direction of the Sciences building. When she pushed the door open, it whacked into something – someone, she realized as the person on the other side let out a huff of air. 

“I'm so sorry!” she rushed to apologize, stopping short when she noticed Jacob on the other side. Leaned against the wall, a joint between his lips, he grimaced. He reached up to his lips to pull the spliff away. “Don't stop on my account,” Nessie replied. 

“What are you doing out here?” He asked, holding the drug between his index and middle finger beside his thigh. He ran his thumb along the butt of it quickly, flicking the ashes onto the ground. 

“Skipping Health class to avoid you,” she said, crossing her arms and cocking her hip to the side. “You?” 

“Skipping Health class to avoid you,” he replied with the smirk of a small boy who'd been caught doing something particularly naughty, but was actually quite proud of himself. 

Nessie sighed, unfolding her arms and reaching for his joint. Jacob pulled his hand from her reach, shaking his head. 

“Come over here. Cameras can't see you.”

Nessie's eyes flitted up to the camera on the outside wall. He was right, he was standing in the blind spot. They'd have to stand quite close for Nessie to be hidden as well. Jacob rolled his eyes, reaching out for her with his free hand and pulling her by her upper arm til she was out of the camera's view and in his space. 

Quite in his space, actually. Really in his space. Aligned, even. Nessie's breathing hitched, and Jacob most definitely noticed, if the spark in his eyes was anything to go by. He didn't much react, however, instead pulling the joint back up to his mouth and inhaling deeply. He reached for Nessie's chin with his free hand, tugging on it until she opened her mouth. Nessie took the hint and stood on her tip toes, closing her eyes. She heard Jacob exhale and expanded her lungs, inhaling the smoke he was letting out. 

Her lungs filled with smoke and she held her breath, opened her eyes to stare into Jacob's. He'd pulled the blunt away from his face again already. After a few moments, Nessie let go of the smoke, watching it disappear into the air out of the corner of her eye, but not leaving Jacob's gaze. 

She was already feeling better. A bit turned on, but better, less stressed. Less worried about facing Chris. “I was going to save you half for after school. Figured you needed it,” Jacob said quietly, surprising her again with his uncanny ability to read her mind. 

Nessie nodded. Jacob turned the blunt around in his hand, holding the butt of it in front of her lips and watching them close around them. Her lip gloss clung to the paper, marking it. Nessie saw his breathing hitch. 

Fuck, she wanted him so badly. She let go of the joint and Jacob's mouth replaced hers instantly, his lips matching up with the stain she'd left behind. She exhaled quicker than she normally would have, opening her mouth back up and leaning forward and reaching out to grasp Jacob's arm. 

Jacob looked down at her, exhaling into her mouth again, and Nessie clung to it desperately.

Both Nessie and Jacob's phones went off a moment later, breaking the haze of sexual tension that had fogged around them and causing both of them to jump and look at one another in confusion before pulling their phones out of their pockets. 

A picture of them, taken from Nessie's left was displayed on the screen in a text from Emmett. Nessie's head whipped up, and she caught Jacob's confused gaze again. A thundering laugh sound to her left caused her to whip her head around, her eyes widening instantly as she pulled away from Jacob.

“Well if this isn't the most perfect piece of blackmail, I don't know what is,” Emmett said with a wolfish grin, walking up to them, phone in hand.


	5. i think that i found myself a cheerleader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "[Cheerleader](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGflUbPQfW8)" by OMI.
> 
>  
> 
> **Hi! in case you havent seen yet, I edited a lot of the previous chapters. Some small things, some major things so I recommend rereading them! Please review! I get lots of kudos but no reviews and I wanna know how yall are liking it or if theres anything you'd like to see!**
> 
>  
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[Pom Poms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHitulGaS9k)" by Jonas Brothers  
> \- "[Smells Like Teen Spirit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYxkezUr8MQ)" by Nirvana  
> \- "[Animal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJgaksG4sg)" by Neon Trees

Chris wasn't in P.E. Tiffany was, though, and Chris had told her everything. “Well if it isn't little Miss Mary Sue.” 

Nessie rolled her eyes and ignored her, walking towards her locker for her change of clothes. 

“I'm talking to you!” Tiffany screeched.

Nessie continued to ignore her, hanging her blazer up on the small rack next to the group of lockers hers was in. Her tie met the same fate, and she'd started unbuttoning her shirt before Tiffany spoke again. 

“Hellooo? Are you deaf?” 

“Nope, you're just not worth my time,” Nessie finally replied, pulling her gym shirt over her head and stepping out of her skirt to replace it with her shorts. She shoved her heels in her locker and toed on her Adidas, throwing her hair up into a messy ponytail on her way out of the locker room. 

Jacob met her by the door. “Everything good?” he asked. 

Nessie shrugged. She was feeling a tad bit awkward since her uncle had caught them in a fairly compromising position, everything considered. Emmett had promised he wouldn't tell her parents unless she did something particularly awful – like lie to him again. 

Tiffany, Ana and Samantha walked by them with their noses in the air and Jacob rolled his eyes. Nessie resisted the urge to smile at the carbon copy response. 

“C'mon, kid. Let's get this day over with,” he said, throwing an arm around her shoulder and steering her towards the coach. 

“'M not a kid,” Nessie protested, crossing her arms. 

 

The next day, the awkwardness was forced away immediately upon entering the parking lot. Chris was back, and he was waiting. Jacob opened Nessie's door for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side. “Just ignore him, alright? Your uncles and father and I will do all of the talking. You don't even have to look at him, Ness.”

“How ya doing, Renesmee?” he called. 

Edward growled in response. “Get Nessie to class, Jacob.” 

Nessie cried out indignantly. Jacob and her father were treating her like she was helpless. She'd evaded Chris before, she could surely do so again. Edward growled again, in response to her thoughts. “Get Jacob out of here so he won't lose his temper, Nessie,” he said instead. And Nessie understood that not only was her father trying to protect her from Chris, but he was also trying to protect Chris from Jacob. 

“Jake, come on,” Nessie said, tugging his arm. He didn't budge. “Jacob, please.”

Jacob pulled his arm from her grasp easily, charging towards Chris. “Jacob, no!” He wrapped Chris' tie in his fist and pulled him close to his face, pressing against Chris' windpipe. “If you ever touch Renesmee again, I will not hesitate to fucking kill you. Do you understand me?” He didn't let go, and Chris' face was quickly turning red. “Do you understand?” he asked again, pressing harder. Chris spluttered but nodded, and Jacob let him go. 

He walked back up to Nessie and connected their hands, pulling her along behind him towards the English building. “What in the hell, Jacob?” Nessie yelled, pulling her hand from him. “You can't just go around choking _humans_!” she hissed the last word venomously. 

Jacob rolled his eyes. “I didn't _choke_ him. He'll be fine. Unless he touches you again.” He continued walking, looking straight ahead, hands in fists at his side.

“Look, I understand you've got this big brother complex and an ego the size of your fucking wolf, but I can take care of myself!” She grabbed his bicep and forced him to stop and face her, nearly ready to shout. The looks they were getting as people passed them weren't helping.

The scoff emitting from Jacob didn't do much to improve her mood either. “The last thing I've got is a big brother complex. And whether you can or cannot take care of yourself isn't the issue, here. It's what that _asshole_ tried to force on you in the backseat of his _fucking_ truck the other night!” His voice grew in volume as he went on, practically screaming at her in the middle of the crowded hallway towards the end. 

The first bell rang but neither of them moved, still glaring at each other angrily. Alice walked upon the scene almost warily. She wasn't used to walking into something blind. “Renesmee... we should get to English. And Jacob needs to get to Economics.” 

Jacob didn't take the bait, and neither did she. “It's over and done with, Jacob. What exactly is strangling him in a parking lot going to teach him that a simple talk couldn't have?”

“That he can't fucking touch what's mine!” he screamed.

In the near silence of the hallway, the sound of Nessie's gasp seemed to echo. Even Alice pressed a hand over her open mouth in shock. 

“Especially like that,” Jacob finished, defeated, but still staring Nessie in the eyes. The anger was melting away, replaced by a desperate sense of confusion. 

The late bell rang as Jacob reached out for Nessie, pulling her into his arms and burying his nose in her curls. Nessie pressed her forehead against his chest, closing her eyes and breathing deeply though her nose to try to memorize his scent. “I couldn't bear it if I let anything like that happen to you ever again,” he mumbled.

Nessie sighed, but didn't reply. She still wasn't sure what to say to everything _Jacob_ had said in the past few minutes.

“Alright, I've tried not to interfere, but we are approximately thirty seconds away from getting caught in the halls by the Headmistress,” Alice hissed.

Jacob kissed Nessie's hair and then pulled away. “See you at lunch.”

“Bye,” she whispered.

 

“I am going to say my piece and then I'm going to walk away,” Edward promised Chris, letting go of Bella's hand to approach the human. Chris looked smug, still, despite Nessie and Jacob's removal. 

“Yeah? Too much of a pussy to fight for your sister's honor then, Eddie?”

Edward smiled, but otherwise ignored him, keeping his calm facade. “You're quite lucky you aren't already dead, Christopher. But make no mistake, if you touch Renesmee without her consent ever again, I will personally kill you with my bare hands.” His voice didn't falter, never raised in volume. He was outwardly calm and collected despite the rage blooming inside his chest.

Fear was present in Chris' eyes and mind, but his smirk didn't fall. “I wasn't planning on touching her. She's more trouble than she's worth. A slut and a tease. But now, you've got me wanting a bit of a challenge. Anyone want to take bets on how long it would take her to _beg_ me to fuck her?” 

Emmett passed Edward and before Edward could even read his thoughts, Emmett had his hands circling Chris' neck. Chris' eyes were wide in terror and surprise. Emmett hadn't been close enough to get to him in less than a second, so how had he? 

“Emmett, let go of him! We can't do anything here!” Rosalie begged. “Emmett, you're drawing a crowd,” she said quieter. Edward worked on prying him off Chris while Jasper tried to control his emotions despite the spots of blood rising from in between the boy's neck and Emmett's fingernails distracting him. Bella was frozen in fear. Emmett was rarely angry. The only time she'd seen him look less than the overexcited teddy bear she'd first met when she was seventeen was when they were in battle, and even then, he was usually smiling. She looked over to Jasper to see him focusing on Chris' neck, his eyes dark, and pulled away from the situation, grabbing Jasper and walking towards the school with him. 

Emmett let Chris go a few moments later. Only a minute or so had passed, but everything had happened in slow motion for the Cullens. Chris coughed hoarsely, his hands cradling his throat. His own blood covered his fingers. He stared incredulously at Emmett, and then to Edward and the rest of them before grabbing his bag off the ground and leaving silently. 

Edward closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “He's definitely noticed we're different now.”

 

Jacob's yelled semi-confession, as Nessie was choosing to regard it, hung over them like clouds. Instead of storm clouds, though, they seemed to be the large, beautiful ones that so often held the rest of her family hostage. 

“Hey,” Jacob greeted lowly when he met her in the hallway after her American History class. Jasper evaded them, choosing to walk in the direction of the computer labs in search of Alice instead. 

“Hey.” It felt like they were on a precipice. Did they ignore what happened in the hallway earlier, or did they confront it? Did she dare ask Jacob what he meant when he'd called her his? Jacob reached for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side, hard. He pressed a kiss against her temple and started walking with her towards the cafeteria. Nothing was said, but it wasn't an awkward silence. Nessie had never felt more comfortable than she was in Jacob's arms. 

They stood together in line. Distantly, Nessie was aware her family was already at the table, trays of charade food in front of them. She tried to ignore them. Her father would either have pity or anger in his eyes and she wasn't sure she could handle either just yet. Instead, Nessie nuzzled her nose against Jacob's side, breathing in his scent. His chuckles vibrated against her cheek. 

Humans walked by with their trays as they got closer to the front of the line. Nothing looked appealing to her; in fact, just the smells of the cafeteria food was starting to disgust her. “We'll go hunting after school,” Jacob whispered into her hair. 

Nessie smiled back dazzlingly, reaching a hand up to press against his cheek. From the outsider, it probably seemed like PDA. She showed him a memory of their last hunt, when she caught a bigger animal than him and won their little contest. “Not this time,” Jacob promised. “I'll bring a wooly mammoth back from the dead if I have to.” She shared a mental image of her trying to eat a wooly mammoth all by herself and he let out a booming laugh. Jacob always gave his kill over to her during their hunts, saying he preferred human food unless necessary, but Nessie knew that wasn't true.

His laugh cut short and his body became tense beneath hers as his face contorted into one of annoyance and a quiet growl pried its way through his clenched teeth. He pulled Nessie even closer into his side, splaying a hand across her hip. Chris walked by them a few seconds later, staring intently at Jacob's hand with a look of disgust. 

“I swear I could fucking kill him,” Jacob growled.

“No you _fucking_ couldn't, Jacob. He's a human. It would be easier for me to get over it if you could show me you were getting over it, too,” Nessie pleaded.

Jacob let out a sound similar to one he made in his wolf form when he was exasperated by something being said around him and he didn't have Edward around to translate his thoughts. 

By the time they finally got their trays, they had about ten minutes to eat before their next class. 

“God high school is so much worse this time around.”

 

Despite Nessie's promises that she was 'getting over it', her ear splitting screams in the middle of the night told another story. Jacob rushed to her side every night, gently waking her and pulling her into his arms. He figured he might as well just start sleeping in her bedroom permanently, considering he ended up there almost every night anyway. 

Renesmee would never reveal her nightmares to him, neither would Edward, but he assumed they had to do with Chris, all things considered. She was usually screaming a variation of “no”, “stop”, or “please,” but claimed to never remember the dreams when she woke up the next morning. 

When she awoke Thursday morning, her face pressed against Jacob's bare chest, she winced. Last night's dream had been the worst of all, a montage of Chris with red eyes, the Volutri telling them they would die for revealing themselves to a human, and Jacob getting hurt in the crossfire. 

“Jacob,” she whispered. “Jake, wake up.”

He groaned for a second as he woke, and then a smile lit his face before his eyes even opened. “Yeah, Ness?”

“You're killing me here.”

He opened his eyes and noticed her hair clinging to her forehead with sweat. He chuckled and pulled away from her a tad. “Sorry, Ness. Time for school?”

Nessie nodded. “A bit early, actually, but you have yourself to blame. Climbing into my bed in the middle of the night and trapping me between you and the duvet.”

Jacob's eyebrows furrowed and he knew she was trying to say she didn't remember having a nightmare again. He took the bait, smoothing out his forehead and choosing not to remind her. “Yeah, well, you've been busy practicing for your tryouts. I've missed you,” he said instead.

It was a decent lie. She _had_ been throwing herself into practicing her flips and twists and jumps for cheerleading but it was mostly just to keep her brain occupied from its near-constant ChrisJacob circle. Nessie smiled at him smally and patted his chest once. “Go get dressed.”

Jacob rolled his eyes, but climbed out of bed with a mumbled “yes, ma'am” before walking across the hall to his bedroom. Today was the last day of the second week of school and it'd felt like a decade since she'd first stepped foot on the campus. 

Chris hadn't said a thing to her since his altercation with Jacob on Tuesday morning, and even Tiffany and her minions had started ignoring her. Well, if you considered keeping their mouths shut but still turning their noses up at her ignoring, anyway. 

She finally rolled out of bed and walked through her closet, into her bathroom to start her day. Within just a few minutes, she heard her bedroom door open back up and her mattress give under Jacob's body. “Did you even shower?” Nessie called.

“Got the essentials!” he defended.

Nessie shook her head at him, but finished up, reveling in the fact that now that she'd finished growing, her hair didn't seem to grow anymore – meaning she'd never have to shave again. 

“Hey, Ness, whatcha think about going down to La Push this weekend? It's Claire's birthday, and we could visit Charlie while we're there, as long as we stay inconspicuous.”

The prospect excited Nessie. She missed Forks and La Push more than anything and after the past couple of weeks she's had, she really needed to be around the wolves and her grandfather.

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds amazing,” Nessie replied with a smile. Maybe things were looking up. For her afterall. 

 

The reminder that they'd be leaving for La Push tomorrow kept Nessie happy all throughout school that day. Even in P.E. when she was put on a team with Chris and Jacob nearly killed the coach. Luckily, they were teams of four and she was mainly able to ignore him for most of the period. 

After school, Nessie made Jacob practice with her in their back yard, to his displeasure. Currently, he was lying on his back in the grass, sprawled out like a starfish, with his eyes closed. Above him, Nessie stood with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. “Jacob! Get up!” she commanded. He ignored her, and she stomped her foot in response, causing Jacob to have to bite his lip to hide a smile. She reminded him of Bella so much sometimes, it scared him. 

“We have to leave for the parent meeting in an hour and a half and I still have to get dressed so if you wouldn't _mind_ getting your ass up and helping me practice for thirty more minutes, I'll do whatever you want,” Nessie promised.

“Whatever I want?” Jacob asked, lifting his head slightly.

“Within reason,” Nessie clarified. 

A wolfish grin took over Jacob's face as he hopped back up onto his feet. “Alright, what now?”

“I still wanna practice my back flips more,” she replied, getting into position.

Jacob groaned. “We've been practicing your flips all afternoon! You're perfected them!”

Nessie got angry again quickly, taking her arms out of the air and putting her hands back on her hips. “No, we've practiced the handsprings all afternoon. We practiced the flips twice before you decided you were done helping me, even though you _promised_ to help me practice for my tryouts no matter how long it took!” 

It was times like these Jacob wished he could kiss her. Just grab her by the hips and pull her into him and press his lips against hers harder than he could a human's. She had fire in her eyes, alight with frustration and anger, and all she had on was a tiny pair of shorts and a sports bra. It'd been frustrating him all day, and he honestly thought he should be praised for not popping a boner. Well, nothing more than a semi, anyway. Ever since he'd decided to tell her about imprinting this weekend, he felt his body and mindset change even more so towards the “mate” ideology. 

“Jacob!” she called again, pulling him out of his reverie. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized. “Back flips, alright. Let's go, then.” 

They practiced for 15 more minutes, cutting it short, but Jacob had become basically useless. They laid on her bed, dozing for the next thirty minutes. She barely had time to wash the dirt off her body before she was shoving it in clothes and forcing Jacob to blowdry her hair while she put on a minimal amount of makeup. Still, she left the house with damp hair. 

Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Bella, Jacob and Renesmee all forced themselves into the [Range Rover](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2KO5O-9BTfRQXdoTy1ZSHhQcjA/view?usp=sharing) headed to Berkeley Academy once again. 

They made their way to the gym after parking, adding themselves to the line waiting outside. It seemed to be moving fairly quickly, so Nessie wasn't complaining too much, but she really wanted to go inside already. 

“Hello! I'm Coach Jessica Bryant, but feel free to call me Jessica,” a blonde woman, probably in her early thirties said when they reached the door. Her eyes were a bit wide, the usual reaction to meeting Nessie's family, as she handed Carlisle and Esme each a packet of papers. “And who are the prospective cheerleaders here?”

Carlisle placed his hands on Nessie's shoulders. “Renesmee, here is. Our other foster children, Bella, Edward and Jacob are just here for moral support. Esme and I find it important to teach the children to support their foster siblings.” It was cleverly scripted and even Nessie was surprised at how Carlisle explained away the attendance of her actual parents and her best friend.

The coach smiled politely. “How refreshing to have families that still value things like that. Nice to meet you all, especially you, Renesmee. I look forward to seeing you at tryouts, and hopefully on one of our teams!” She handed Nessie one of the packets as well and directed them to a table set up with a projector on it and asked them to sign in. 

Looking around, she noticed many familiar faces. Tiffany, Ana and Samantha were there, to her disappointment. Elizabeth from her American History class and Megan from Piano, even Nathan from P.E. They seated themselves on the bleachers afterward, Nessie pulling Jacob close to her out of nervousness. Behind them, her parents sat next to Carlisle and Esme.

“Alright, if that's everyone, I think we're ready to begin!” the coach from the door called, pulling the door closed behind her. Her voice echoed throughout the gym in a way that wasn't a yell, but projected loud enough to hush the mumbles of the teenagers and their parents. She walked toward the center of the gym where a temporary projection screen was standing. 

“As I stated when I introduced myself at the door, I'm Coach Jessica Bryant. Students may call me Coach, or Jessica, provided no one on the teams is named Jessica.” Another woman joined her at the front a moment later pushing a cart with a computer behind it. “This is the Junior Varsity Cheer Coach, Alyssa Shrouder.”

“Hi,” the other coach called. She had the same voice projection the previous woman had. “Please call me Alyssa. Sorry I'm running a bit late, we're sharing our computer with the soccer team until ours comes in." 

There was a moment of silence while they set a few things up and started a power point presentation. “We're just going to cover the very basics today, please go home and read your entire [packet](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uzbnv3oet9MPnHuMIy_yfUiUVVZ0X_FoQPxXOB3dNdY/edit?usp=sharing) this afternoon together to make sure that cheerleading is a perfect fit for you and your child.”

“The first thing I'd like to stress is that cheerleading is an all or nothing sport. You cannot practice occasionally and expect to show up on game days, do your thing and leave. The best cheerleaders from both teams will go on to cheer in Regionals, and then hopefully State and Nationals. Cheerleading will take up **a lot** of your time and you will be expected to give 110% all of the time. You will be a representative of the school, whether in uniform or out and we expect you to give everyone an outstanding impression of Berkeley Academy to everyone you come into contact with. Spend some time making sure that you are willing to sacrifice both the time and money needed to participate, but also if you're willing to hold yourself to such high standards. Berkeley Academy teaches only the best students, so we know you're all capable, but if your heart isn't in it, we will understand.”

She paused for effect. “Please turn to the first page of the packet, and let's begin.”

Pages rustling filled the area of the gymnasium and Nessie noticed Esme had given her packet to Bella and Edward to share, while she shared with Carlisle. Nessie appreciated how Carlisle and Esme acted like her parents, while respecting her actual parents. She expected nothing less of her grandparents, but she still appreciated it.

“Here we've listed most of the important dates you'll need to remember, and write on your family calendar at home. The football and basketball season schedules will be sent home with the cheerleaders who make the team during uniform pick up. Please remember that failure to attend a practice or game will be considered an unexcused absence without proper documentation of a health-related cause or a family emergency. Two unexcused absences result in termination from the team. A parent or guardian must call your cheerleader's coach by 4 PM on the day they will be missing to make them aware of their child's absence in advance.”

“All the paperwork in this packet, plus three teacher recommendations, the application fee of twenty-five dollars, your transcripts, and your physical form must be turned in by next Thursday, September tenth by five in order to try out. Two days of clinics will be held where you will be taught a basic routine and cheer to memorize for your tryouts, as well learning basic stunts and perfecting posture and other small mistakes. Clinics will be held over next weekend, Friday, September eleventh and Saturday, September twelfth from eight to three. Please remember to bring a lunch, as it will not be provided for you. We'll break around noon or so for a thirty minute lunch. Wear shorts, a tank top and closed toed shoes to clinic days, a sports bra, if needed, and your hair in a ponytail if it's below your shoulders.”

Nessie filed away all of this information in the recesses of her brain, soaking it up like a sponge. She was already planning a mini shopping spree for clinic outfits, not really wanting to wear the ratty shorts she'd been practicing in at home. Her father tapped her shoulder once and pointed back to the front to redirect her attention from spending the family's money. 

“Tryouts will be held Sunday, September thirteenth from nine to noon in the gym. Same dress code, but no need to bring lunch. You do not leave once your tryout is over, you will sit in the bleachers and support your peers. Parents and siblings are encouraged to attend tryouts to support their cheerleader, however we ask that no one come onto the floor or excess calling out. Do we have any questions so far?”

One girl raised her hands and asked if family and friends could come to clinics. Alyssa answered that she'd rather not so that the children would be forced to interact with their peers instead of being distracted. The girl deflated visibly. 

“On the following Monday, the fourteenth, on the morning announcements, the Junior Varsity and Varsity squad will be announced along with Captains and Co-Captains. Returning members of the squad have seniority when it comes to those positions, as they are earned not handed out. Members chosen for the squads will be asked to meet in the gym straight after school for uniform fittings. Please bring a tank top and shorts to school that Monday so that you can be measured more properly if you make one of the squads and are needed for fittings. Uniforms will be handed out the next Thursday, September seventeenth after school. If a cheerleader has not turned in all of their dues by this date, they won't receive their uniform.”

“Practices will be held every Monday through Thursday from four to five after school. During exam week and during breaks from school, practices will be canceled. Please bring a shirt and a pair of shorts to school in a Ziploc with your name printed on it on the first day of tryouts to be kept in your coach's office in case you ever forget your practice attire. If you fail to do this, or you forget to bring it back in after you've washed it at home and you don't have something to wear next time you forget your practice clothes, it will be counted as an absence. Being unprepared to practice means you cannot practice and therefore might as well go home.”

Jessica clapped her hands together and flipped the slide. “Now, if you would all turn to the page titled 'Cheerleading Contract' a few pages away, we'll get away from the dates and times for a bit.” A few polite chuckles rang through the gym, including one from Carlisle. 

The coaches went on talking about academic expectations and proper conduct at games. She'd have to remember she couldn't have anymore skipping and smoking sessions with Jacob if she wanted to stay on the team. Her father tapped her harshly on the shoulder again and she winched, turning to face him. He was angry, terribly so, but she could tell he was trying to contain it for appearances sake. She placed her hand behind her on his ankle conspicuously. _Sorry, Daddy._

He bent down next to her ear, between herself and Jacob. “When we get home, we'll be discussing this more in depth. Consider yourself grounded, Renesmee.”

“What about La Push?” Jacob asked quietly. 

“Hush,” Edward responded, returning to his seated position and redirecting his attention to the front again, turning his page along with everyone else. 

Nessie, still wincing turned back around to the front after eyeing Jacob and replacing her hand on his forearm, repeating her apology to him. He shrugged slightly. 

“The approximate cost for the year will be about seven hundred dollars for girls and four fifty for boys as broken down in your packets. The difference in cost is solely due to the uniforms and warm-ups. Uniforms will look like [this](https://36.media.tumblr.com/d5bc10233b377d5a61b34d3d6ae15743/tumblr_o0r4edcRBn1qcyc6eo2_r1_400.png),” she switched the picture on the slideshow to a side by side picture of two cartoonish designs, and a wave of excited murmurs traveled through the gym. “Any questions or concerns about the uniform?”

One father asked why the girls' uniform skirt was so short and if the girls could have a pants and top uniform similar to the boys' uniform, to which his daughter called out in mortification and fled the gym, her father following in distress. Alyssa and Jessica took it in stride, calling out for the audience to turn the packets to the page titled “Tryout Packet”

“Cheerleaders will be chosen based on the completion and quality of the cheer they're taught during the clinic days, their ability to project their voice, complete the stunts and jumps, and an original cheer or dance they've created and will perform. In addition, all throughout clinics and tryouts, students will be judged on their athleticism, attitude, work ethic, enthusiasm, and ability to work in a team. 25 students will be chosen for the Varsity squad, and 25 will be chosen for the Junior Varsity squad.”

Alyssa and Jessica went over a few more basic rules about being on the squad and then bid them farewell, offering to meet with any parents or students individually before they left if needed. A few parents hung around to do so, but the Cullens made their way out of the gym and headed back to the car. Her father wasn't talking to her currently, and refused to despite Bella's inquisitive gaze She tried not to think about the smoking incident in detail. 

Jacob nudged her. “Whatcha think?” Nessie looked back in confusion. “About cheerleading!”

“Oh!” she replied, quietly. “It sounds really really fun. I'm just worried the other students won't like me and I won't have any friends on the squad. Tiffany was there.”

Jacob threw an arm around her shoulders. “You will, Nessie. Everyone'll love you once they get to know you. Now, let's just hope your father isn't so angry he tells you you can't go to La Push tomorrow.”


	6. say you want me, too, like i want you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title: "[Hunger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7QIYXGL8m8)" by Ross Copperman. I love it, you should check it out if you like slower songs. It was also on Vampire Diaries if you're a fan of that show.
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[Come Back When You Can](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU58901vqwk)" by Barcelona.  
> \- "[Give In To Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVrSChJPfhw)" by Leighton Meester & Garrett Hedlund.  
> \- "[Jump Then Fall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwYVbHZ1tIE)" by Taylor Swift.

“Emmett!” Edward was a force to be reckoned with as soon as Carlisle stopped the car. He stormed into the house, bellowing for Emmett. Nessie made her way into the house a bit slower, listening as her father and uncle argued. 

They tussled down the stairs a few moments later. Jacob filtered into the living room beside Nessie and reached out to place his fingertips along her lower back in silent support. “Do you wanna start or should I relay to everyone what I heard in your mind?” 

Nessie winced. “Jacob and I shared a joint the other day,” she admitted meekly. She didn't think it was nearly as big of a deal as they seemed intent on making it. 

“No, let's tell your mother the _complete_ story, Renesmee. You and Jacob both skipped class to smoke marijuana and engage in public displays of affection and then roped Emmett into lying for you!” Edward replied, seething.

“Oh please!” Nessie replied. “There were no public displays of affection!” 

Edward glared. “I am reconsidering your going to La Push with Jacob alone this weekend!”

“That's not fair!” Nessie shouted, stomping her foot and crossing her arms. “I wanna see the wolves! And Grandpa Charlie!” 

“Don't stomp your foot at me!” Edward yelled in response.

There were times when Bella forgot Edward was only seventeen, eternally. This was not one of them. He was acting every bit of seventeen right now, fighting with their daughter. The only part of him that wasn't seventeen at the moment was his heart. She released her shield to tell him so. 

_Edward remember what it was like when we were just falling in love. Remember how it felt. That's how she's feeling. Wouldn't you have done anything to spend a little more time with me? To apologize after a fight? Didn't you once say it was healthy to skip class every now and then? And after all the stress she's been under lately can we really blame her to turning to a vice for relief? It won't even affect her long term._

Edward's eyes were closed in thought and his breathing was slowing. Nessie could tell by the way her mother was staring intently at him that it was her doing. She wanted to reach out and thank her, but knew anything she showed her mother would inevitably travel to her father. 

After a few moments, his eyes opened and his gaze returned to Nessie. Calmly, he continued. “Renesmee,” he started. “You may go to La Push with Jacob tomorrow, but when you return home on Sunday night, you will be grounded for a week.” Nessie smiled, and opened her mouth to thank him, but he stopped her. “Jacob, you will stop sharing your _drugs_ with my daughter and you will _start_ attending all of your classes! Same goes to you, Renesmee. And no more sharing beds for the time being!”

Jacob scoffed. “It was just weed, Edward, it's not hurting her.” Edward growled in response and Jacob put his hands up. “Fine, fine.”

“Renesmee, go to your room while your mother and I look over this packet and decide if you can attend tryouts next weekend or if you're grounded from that as well,” Edward said.

Nessie's jaw dropped. “But Daddy!”

“Go!”

Nessie stomped up the stairs in a way Jacob found incredibly humorous, but Edward did not.

 

Nessie doesn't set an alarm that night, falling asleep in the middle of her wallowing. Instead, she wakes up to Jacob in her bed again, whispering in her ear. “Wake up, Ness. It's time to go visit La Push.” She groans and ignores him, rolling over to turn her back to him. Jacob chuckles. As much as she loves La Push, she hates waking up at the godawful hour it takes to be able to get there before nightfall. 

Seconds later her side is attacked by his overly large hands, fingers playing against her ribs like they were keys on a piano. She kicks viciously, laughter forcing its way through her lips without her permission. “Ja-akee,” she gasps, brokenly between peals of laughter. 

“Gonna wake up?” Jacob taunts, rolling her over onto her back and straddling her to pin her down. She tries swinging at him only to have her wrists end up in his hands, shackled to the mattress. Her chest is heaving, deep breaths coming through her mouth and blowing the hair tickling her cheeks off her face. Jacob's eyes are locked with hers, a maniacal grin on his face as he hovers over her. “Awake now?” he asks. 

And Nessie really can't answer, because every single part of her is awake, on fire. Jacob is inches away from her and all it would take was her lifting her head off the pillow just a tad to link the distance. She licks her lips slightly, glancing down at his, lifting her head up just slightly. Jacob follows her lead, leans down to meet her.

“Get out of bed and ready to go this instant or your punishment will be lengthened to a month!” Edward warns from downstairs. 

Nessie groans audibly, collapsing back against the bed. 

Jacob chuckles again slightly, letting go of her wrists and swinging his leg back over her body until he's kneeling on the side of the bed he was occupying before. Nessie turns her head to look at him. He's already dressed in a pair of shorts. “Hop in the shower, Ness. I'll wait out here.”

Nessie wasn't quite sure how she was meant to do such a thing when her legs were literal jelly, but she forced herself to stand and walk through her closet to choose her clothes and take them into the bathroom with her. In the shower, she was able to clear her head, singing to herself quietly as she washed her body. Here, it was easier to believe that maybe Jacob had been leaning into her as well, maybe felt the same things she did. 

She kept her hair out of the stream, forgoing washing it today so it wouldn't still be damp when they left for La Push. She didn't have time to blow dry it now that she'd overslept. She stepped out of the shower a few minutes later, toweling off before putting on her bra, underwear and a brown tank top. She pulled on a pair of dark wash jeans afterward, jumping up and down a few times to pull them into place and button them before walking into her closet for the rest of her [outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/en_route_to_la_push/set?id=187462734). 

“Decent,” she yelled to Jacob, who she wasn't even sure was waiting for her on the bed anymore considering she hadn't made the effort to hold a conversation with him while she was showering, like she usually did. Still, Jacob loped into the closet a few moments later, taking a seat on the bench and watching Nessie flit around getting ready. 

She pulled a brown sweater over head and threw a jacket in Jacob's lap, grabbing a pair of socks out of her drawers before walking across to her shoe rack to pull down a pair of brown riding boots. She slid her feet in the socks and then the boots, pulling them up over her calves. “You're like a little tornado this morning,” Jacob commented. “Only quieter. What's the matter?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Nessie replied. Jacob took her jacket from his lap and put it down on the bench next to him, grabbing Nessie's wrist the next time she walked past him and pulling her sideways into his lap. 

“Now, are you going to tell me what's actually the matter or are you going to lie to me again?” Jacob asked. 

Nessie's breath caught for the second time that day. She hadn't been in Jacob's lap since she was little, it was another one of the things that had stopped when she'd gotten over the physical age of six. When she was younger, her ass had rarely touched a chair in much the same way her feet had rarely touched the ground. Everyone wanted to hold her all of the time, her family even fought over who would get to hold her. Eventually the bickering would become too much for her and she'd start to cry, begging to be in Jacob's arms, even then. 

Now, she laid her head against his chest and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Lie to you again, I'm afraid.” 

Jacob sighed, looping his arms tighter around her waist and pressing his cheek against her head. “Never used to lie to me,” he mumbled.

“Grew up,” Nessie retaliated. “Still love you, just some stuff I've gotta keep to myself now.”

“Yeah, yeah, you did.” He tapped her hip twice, pulling his arms away. “Finish getting ready, babe. I'm sorry for distracting you.”

_Babe._ Nessie tried to ignore it, standing up and finding her head before finding a pair of gloves and a scarf. She looped the scarf around her neck and tossed the gloves over to Jacob. “Put those in my jacket pocket please?” she asked. 

She had to cover the majority of her skin to ride on Jacob's back, just in case a hunter or someone was in the woods. Her skin didn't sparkle like the rest of her family's did, but it still glowed faintly, enough to bring unwanted attention to them if someone caught the moving illumination out of the corner of their eyes. A glowing girl riding on the back of a wolf was sure to gain a ton of unwanted attention if she was noticed. Her parents would be checking over her outfit twice to make she had remembered to cover even her hands. 

Returning to the bathroom for her hair brush, she ran it through her hair, fighting with her curls until it was nearly painful. She finally wrestled it into a ponytail and returned to the closet. “Do you have your phone charger so I can pack it in my backpack?” Nessie asked, finding a backpack big enough to hold a few outfits and opening it. 

“Oh!” Jacob exclaimed, jumping up. They both had toiletries at Billy's, and Jacob still had clothes there that fit, but Nessie had grown some since she'd been there last and would need to take some. She packed a few changes of clothes, including a bathing suit and sundress, and a few pairs of shoes, along with Jacob's phone charger when he returned. “Brought yours, too,” he said, holding it out.

“Thank you,” she replied, zipping the bag. Jacob took it from her, throwing it over his shoulder and grabbing her jacket off the bench as they walked through her bedroom and downstairs. Her mother was cooking them breakfast when they made into the kitchen. 

“Shouldn't be any weather along the way,” Alice informed them. “I checked the futures of a few people we know along the route and didn't see them dealing with any rain, so I'm assuming the same goes for you two.” Even after eight years, Alice was still kinda bitter about not being able to see their futures, but she'd gotten good at looking past them.

“Thank you, Aunt Alice,” Nessie replied, pulling her into a hug. Alice smiled and returned the hug before flitting upstairs. 

Bella placed a plate of eggs, bacon and toast on the table in front of Jacob, along with a glass of orange juice for each of them. “Eat,” she said, and then turned to Nessie. “Do you have a jacket? Your gloves?” 

Jacob held the jacket up. “All here,” he answered for her. 

Her mother smiled, stepping forward as they took a seat and placed a kiss atop Nessie's hair. “You'll text me when you stop for lunch and when you arrive?”

“Yes, momma,” Nessie replied. She didn't go to La Push but a few times a year, but her parents still acted like it was the last time they'd ever see her every time, even when they'd still lived in Forks and were barely a few minutes away from her.

“And if you need to, text me tonight after the bonfire,” she said.

That registered a bit strange to Nessie. Why would she feel the need to? When she looked up from her plate to say so, however, it was to find her mother smiling at Jacob and Jacob glaring at her. Nessie placed a palm on his forearm in confusion, showing him how he looked to her. He turned on her, replacing the glare with a smile. “Just a little peeved your mother doesn't seem to think I'll be able to look after you.” 

Nessie rolled her eyes in response. “My parents are always protective, Jake.” 

She finished the last bit of juice in her glass. “Ready?” she asked. “We should get going.”

“Oh!” Bella exclaimed, walking back over to the kitchen and picking up four sandwiches off the counter and two thermoses, opening Nessie's bag and putting them inside. It was bordering on being too full to close now. "Drink if you get thirsty, so you won't have to wait your time hunting and can spend it with Charlie and the pack instead."

Nessie thanked her mother and hugged her, venturing off in the house to find her father and do the same. She returned a few minutes later, grumbling about overprotective parents. Jacob helped her into her jacket, zipping it up and putting the hood over her head, pulling the drawstrings tight until all she had was a tiny hole to look out of. Nessie glared at him and undid it a bit, pulling off her scarf to wear it on the outside of the jacket, easier to cover her face with, if needed. 

Jacob stepped behind one of the thicker trees to take off his shorts, throwing them at Nessie, who shoved them down the front of her jacket rather than opening her backpack again. When Jacob rounded the tree, he did so as a wolf, licking her hand once before lying down in front of her. “Yeah, yeah, gloves, I know,” Nessie said, tugging them out of her jacket and onto her hands before throwing a leg over Jacob's back and straddling him. She looped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his fur, relishing in the feel of it against her with a smile, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. Jacob barked once, and then he was off. 

A few hours into the ride, Nessie fell asleep. Jacob knew it would happen, no matter how many times she insisted it wouldn't. The gentle rocking of Jacob's body, combined with the fact that keeping her eyes open wasn't comfortable due to the wind, put her out within an hour or two tops every time. Hell, given her attitude this morning, he was surprised she'd made it this far. 

They had a long ride ahead of them, but given that they ran into no complications, they should be in La Push by three or so that afternoon. In a few more hours, Jacob would wake Nessie up for lunch. He figured they'd visit Charlie and Sue first, give Charlie a few hours to adjust to seeing his three year old granddaughter looking seventeen. Around seven or so, they'd go down to the beach for the bonfire and to see the Pack and Billy, if he was well enough to go down. Jacob hoped he'd be in better condition than he was the last time they'd made it down. It was hard seeing his father hurting and not being able to do anything about it, or even be nearby, but Billy understood. 

After the bonfire, he'd have to find a way to tell Nessie everything. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous as hell. It could go either way, and just because she'd been showing hints of attraction towards him recently didn't mean it would end in his favor once he told her he'd been lying to her her whole life.

Running felt so good to Jacob. He never ran very far anymore. He phased often in order to stay young enough for Nessie, and they ran occasionally for her to hunt, but he never really got the opportunity to stretch his legs like this. Part of him wanted to jump and buck, but he was ever-aware of Renesmee lying on his back, clutching his fur every so often in her sleep and nuzzling her face into his shoulders. Instead, he took in every second of every moment, the feeling of her legs tight around his ribcage, her arms around his neck. 

Nessie started moving around more and more on his back, and he was starting to get worried about her safety, running just a bit further until he found a small clearing in the woods, one of their usual stops, and lying down. He barked a few times, jolting her awake and into consciousness. She looked around a few times, trying to take in where she was, before remembering and sliding off Jacob's back, reaching down her jacket for his shorts. She placed them in his mouth and groggily took a seat on a nearby fallen tree while he hid nearby to change. 

“You were starting to wake up, thought you might have to pee,” he said as soon as he was in human form. Nessie didn't like being woken up, and he'd rather cut to the chase than deal with an annoyed Nessie for the next few hours.

Nessie nodded, opening her backpack and grabbing their sandwiches and thermoses. Three sandwiches for Jacob, one for Nessie; water for Jacob, blood for Nessie. Jacob took a seat next to her as soon as he was done putting on his shorts. “You good?” She nodded again, leaning against his shoulder and he chuckled, lifting the arm she was resting on to wrap around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest and kissing her hair. He took a massive bite out of one of the sandwiches, engulfing half of it. “Should I have let you sleep?” he asked through a mouthful. She shook her head, opening her own sandwich baggie and pulling out hers. 

“Just was in the middle of a dream, I think. Can't remember, but feels like it. Just groggy, but hungry, so thank you.”

Jacob smiled in response. “Course.” 

 

For the rest of the journey, Renesmee drifted in and out of consciousness, her hand pressed firmly against Jacob's neck, relaying bits and pieces of thoughts. God, Jacob loved her. 

Seth greeted they entered Quileute territory, running along beside them, causing Jacob to buck in glee. Renesmee was forced into complete consciousness with the action, smiling when she noticed Seth beside them. She reached out for him, and he shifted closer to Jacob, letting her run her fingertips against his fur. She giggled, holding on tighter and urging Jacob to go faster. His claws kicked up dirt as he sped up. Jacob and Seth raced for around ten more minutes before they parted ways, Seth towards his house and Jacob and Nessie towards Charlie's. 

A few yards from the break in the trees, Jacob slowed, laying down to let Nessie off his back. She gave him his shorts and pulled her scarf and gloves off, sitting her backpack on a stump nearby, rifling through it for a few things. She found the only shirt and pair of shoes Jacob had packed and set them aside, pulling out his thermos of water and pouring some over her hands to wash her face. 

“Hey!” Jacob protested, rounding the trees and picking up his shirt. “That was mine!” Nessie handed him the nearly empty thermos. “Thanks,” he said dryly, swallowing the rest of the water. She reached in the backpack and pulled hers out next, offering it to him. He curled his lip. “No, thank you.”

Nessie smirked in response, shrugging as she uncapped the blood and took a small sip. It helped, being near humans, when she had some blood in her system. As she pulled the empty thermos away, a bead of blood ran down the side of her mouth, and she licked her lips, trying to get rid of it before Jacob noticed. She tried not to remind him that he hated half of her. 

When she looked up at Jacob, though, she found no animosity in his eyes. They were clouded and dark with something else instead, something she couldn't quite place. He walked over to her slowly, reaching his hand out and running his thumb along her chin, catching what she'd missed and pressing it against her lips. On instinct, she opened them, running her tongue along his thumb.

Jacob's breath caught, and he let out a quiet moan inadvertently. Nessie's eyes held his the whole time, confused, lustful. But was it for the blood, or him? He forced himself to pull away, to advert his eyes. “We, uh, we better go see Charlie now. Bonfire's in a couple hours.”

Nessie nodded. “Yeah,” she agreed, returning to her backpack and pulling out a pack of gum, taking one for herself before offering one to Jacob. He declined, but it was necessary for her, to rid her breath of the metallic smell of blood. She finished fixing her hair, tossing the thermoses, her gloves and her scarf into the backpack and zipping it up. 

Together, they walked out of the woods and towards the old white house her mother had spent the last two years of her human life in. Charlie's eyes widened when he saw Nessie, as usual. She just hugged him and tried to ignore it. Otherwise, he was ecstatic to see them. He complained about Nessie's growth spurt again and asked about Bella and Edward. He mentioned to Jacob that Billy was doing a bit better, but not fantastic by any means. He offered them dinner, to which they politely declined, stating that there would probably be hotdogs at the beach. Sue confirmed it. 

Around six, Nessie and Jacob excused themselves, promising they'd return tomorrow night to say goodbye. They made it to Billy's, where Billy was nowhere to be found. Jacob figured he'd already gone down to the bonfire, texting him to be sure while Nessie commandeered Jacob's bedroom to change in. It didn't take her too long, taking off her boots first and standing them up in a corner where she hoped Jacob wouldn't touch them. Then went her jeans, sweater and tank top. She hated wearing so much clothing, wasn't used to it after a lifetime of dresses, skirts and shorts, considering she never got cold and needed any extra cover. She wanted to walk around in just her underwear for a bit with how uncomfortable she was, but the thought of Jacob walking in on her like that caused her stomach to do back flips, so she chose to get dressed instead, happy that she'd packed summer clothes. 

She pulled on a pair of jean shorts first, pairing it with a burgundy tank top type blouse that ended just before her bellybutton. Socks and a burgundy pair of Vans came next, while she dug through her bag for her hairbrush. It took nearly ten minutes to force the brush through her hair, pulling so hard she knew she'd be losing hair and probably crying if she were entirely human, but finally she was done. 

When she exited the bedroom, she found Jacob sitting on the couch, watching television. “I'm done if you need to change.” He turned to face her and his eyes darkened again, as they had earlier in the woods. 

“Jesus Christ, Nessie,” he whispered.  
  
Nessie looked down at her [outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/nessies_bonfire_look/set?id=187495814). She'd thought it was cute, but maybe not? Sure, Alice wouldn't approve, but she didn't approve in shorts or tennis shoes at all, so. “What?” she asked.

Jacob stood, walking over to her, still staring at her in an unreadable fashion. She slid her hand under his shirt, pressing it against his stomach despite his shudders. 

_I thought I looked pretty._

Jacob's face changed, his eyes wide and his forehead wrinkled. He held her face between his hands. “You do, baby,” he said. “Just worried about all the other guys looking at you.”

Nessie rolled her eyes, pulling away and busying herself by starting to clean Billy's house. It wasn't dirty by any means, but it was very lived in, and she'd picked up the 'cleaning to distract' habit from her mother. “No one will be looking at me, Jacob,” Nessie replied. 

“Everyone will be,” Jacob corrected. “I'm going to change. I'll be done in a sec, then we can go.”

 

Embry was the first to spot them and, upon doing so, ran up to them excitedly. “Damn Nessie, you've grown again! You look great!”

Nessie laughed. “Thank you, Embry. I've missed you.” She held her arms out for a hug, embracing him. Over her shoulder he mouthed 'holy shit, man' to Jacob, biting his lips and giving him a thumbs up. 

Jacob glared at him as he pulled away, reaching out for a hug of his own. “Keep your dick in your pants, Call,” he growled, snapping his teeth beside Embry's throat. The younger wolf just laughed in response. 

Quil greeted them next, followed by Jared and Kim, Sam and Emily, Paul and Rachel and Seth. She noticed Colin and Brady in the distance, throwing shells into the ocean. Even from here, she could tell that they were older, which confused her. She assumed wolves were immortal. Jacob never aged, or didn't appear to. Quil looked the same as well. As she looked closer at the other wolves, she noticed they'd all aged, though just barely. It was still there, though, in the lines by Sam's eyes and the dimming of Paul's smile. Why hadn't she noticed before?

She didn't have much more time to think about it before Jacob was pulling her over to the bonfire, snatching six hotdogs off a table nearby, giving Nessie two and keeping four for himself. “Eat up!” he said, finding a vacant log and sitting down. Nessie sat down next to him, starting on her hotdogs while everyone else made their way over to the fire as well. 

 

Billy nodded at her from across the fire, sitting in his chair with a paper plate in his lap. “Is everyone ready to start?” he asked, and the group quieted instantly. 

Nessie snuggled into Jacob’s side. She’d heard all of these stories countless times, but she loved them. She closed her eyes, prepared to let Billy’s voice drape over her mind like a cashmere blanket. "The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning," Billy started. Every story started the exact same. "And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is, for one, because there has always been magic in our blood…” he hesitated, looking over to Jacob. Nessie opened her eyes in confusion, looking first at Billy and then following his gaze to Jacob. Jake nodded, leaning in closer to her. 

“Pay attention,” Jacob chastised. “This is my favorite story.”

She did as she was asked, returning her gaze to Billy, who was staring directly at her this time. “Our tribe was also gifted with the ability to imprint.” She’d never heard this one before.

There was a lot of rustling around the fire after that, and Nessie watched as Jared pulled Kim closer as did Sam to Emily and Paul to Rachel. Seth, Embry, Colin and Brady all looked forlorn, yet longing. Nessie turned to face Jacob, who was still paying more attention to her than to anything Billy was saying. 

“Imprinting promised the Quileute Tribe immortality, the Tribe would never go without heirs, without Shape Shifters to protect their land and their people,” Billy continued. “Everyone here knows the story of Taha Aki, the first Shape Shifter.” Nods around the fire urged him to continue. “Taha Aki was also the first wolf to imprint. He had three wives, throughout his extended lifetime, but after he transformed into his wolf form for the first time, his third wife became the most important person in his world; he loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone.”

Nessie was absolutely lost. No one had given her a definition of imprinting yet, and though the word seemed vaguely familiar. Everyone else seemed to know what Billy was talking about, Nessie couldn’t quite understand and that frustrated her incredibly. Jacob cleared his throat. “Maybe explain what imprinting actually _is_?” 

Billy chuckled. “Getting there, son,” he said. He focused on Renesmee again. “When a child changes into a wolf for the first time, many things change for them. They start running a fever, one that never really goes away. They gain the ability to heal rapidly, run faster than even the Cold Ones,” he nodded at Nessie with a smile. “After their first transformation, anyone they lock eyes with could be their imprint. Once upon a time, it was a very rare phenomena, but as the generations continue, we’ve noticed an increase in the amount of wolves in each tribe that find their imprint. Their imprint becomes the most important person in the world to them. Nothing else matters more than them, not their family, their friends, themselves. They were made specifically with that person in mind, they’re their perfect match, the sun, the center of their existence. This isn’t to say the relationships are perfect, by any means. There will be arguments and misunderstandings and hurt feelings, just like every other relationship, but they are more or less as perfect as a relationship can be. 

“Imprints are what holds the tribe together. Other wolves cannot harm a person’s imprint, no exceptions, and no retaliation will be brought upon a wolf who kills someone, wolf or human, who was out to harm their imprint,” he says.

“So imprinting is essentially love at first sight, but stronger?” Nessie asked, feeling silly for doing so.

Billy tilted his head. “Yes, and no. An imprint is a soul-mate, essentially, but not in the way you’re thinking. The relationship between a wolf and their imprint isn’t always romantic. The wolf is whatever the imprint needs them to be: a friend, brother, protector, lover. If the imprint does not desire the wolf in a romantic way, then the wolf does not have romantic feelings for his imprint. They just don't exist,” he explained.

Nessie was still a bit confused, but she thinks maybe she understands the basics.

“Many in this tribe have experienced this,” Billy started. “Sam imprinted on Emily first,” he nodded at the pair and Sam looked a bit uneasy. “Jared was the second of the pack to transform, and he imprinted on Kim very shortly after. Quil imprinted next, followed by Paul, and then Jacob.”

Nessie’s whole world stopped. It was dramatic, but it was true. Billy was looking her directly in the eye again, finished with listing the wolves around them. Jacob had imprinted. There was someone in this world who was more important to him than his pack, his sisters, father, the Cullens, than... her. Her eyes watered, and though she could tell Billy had continued with his story, she couldn’t hear it anymore. Jacob slipped his hand in hers and when she looked up at him, he looked a tad sorry. He jerked his head to the side, standing and pulling her up with him. No one paid them any attention, Billy had moved on, looking at others around the circle as he continued his story. Nessie moved to follow Jacob, happy he was still holding her hand, because she wasn’t sure she could have followed him on her own. 

“Are you alright?” Jacob asked, but Nessie didn’t respond, couldn’t respond. Her heart was shattered, her whole world was, really. When had Jacob imprinted? Who had he imprinted on, and what happened to them? Jacob had lived with their family for the past nine years, even when her mother was pregnant with her. Surely if Jacob had such a person in his life, someone he cared about so much, he would be by their side, constantly? She knew Jacob would never be with her, had watched her grow up from a baby and didn’t see her as anything more than a friend, but the revelation that he had someone else in his life, someone he loved that much, tore her apart.

When Nessie didn’t answer, Jacob became restless. He held her hand tighter, turning his body to face her now that they were quite a ways from the bonfire. He grabbed her other hand in his as well, forced his body in front of hers so she couldn’t look anywhere other than at him. “Show me?” he begged.

And she was completely defeated, so she did. She unleashed everything, every emotion, every truth. She showed him how she felt for him, how in love with him she was, how heartbroken she was now. She felt so raw, so vulnerable. Her thoughts weren’t in sentences or even pictures, most of the time. She couldn’t control what she was showing him, and it ended up in a mix of colors, moods. Occasionally a word would show, a flicker of a picture, but nothing she could make sense of. She felt tears falling down her cheeks and she ducked her head, staring at the sand. Part of her wanted Jacob far far away, wanted this pain gone forever. The other half knew it would never leave, that Jacob would always be a part of her no matter where he went or how long she went without seeing him. 

“Baby,” Jacob whispered, pulling Nessie into him. “Baby, no, I’m not going anywhere, ever. Not unless you truly need me to.” Nessie continued to cry against his chest and Jacob couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t ease her into the idea like he’d wanted to. He pulled her away again, not far, just far enough he could look her in the eye. “Renesmee Carlie Cullen, _you_ are my imprint, baby.”

And Nessie short circuited again. So much emotion flooded through her for the second time in just a few minutes. Relief, mainly, but a cocktail of love, anger, desire, betrayal, and happiness confused her as well. She still hadn’t stopped her connection with Jacob yet, so he unfortunately saw everything as she worked through it. “How? When?” she stuttered out. 

“Shortly after you were born, the first time you looked me in the eye,” Jacob said. “As for how, I think Billy did his best to explain it. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to tell that story tonight. Maybe I should've explained everything myself. I just figured he knew the legends best and you might have wanted to hear them from an unbiased perspective. I'm sorry, Ness.”

Nessie shook her head, still trying to piece her thoughts into a puzzle that made sense. Everything Billy said was replaying in her mind. She was the center of Jacob’s world, the most important person to him. He was made for her, and he would be whatever she needed him to be. 

“You’re killing me,” Jacob said after a few minutes. “I’m trying to be patient so you can think about everything, but the wolf in me is confused. He doesn’t know what you need.”

“I’m confused, too, Jake,” Nessie replied smally. “I’m just gonna need some time to wrap my head around it.”

Jacob nodded. “I can give you time, Nessie. I’ve got all the time in the world to give you. However long you need.”

“Probably not all the time in the world,” Nessie joked back, but her heart was only half in it. “Can we go back to Billy’s? I wanna lay down.”

“Of course,” Jacob responded, taking her hand in his again on impulse, before stopping short. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” Nessie replied. “Yeah, right now I think I need it.” 

Jacob smiled, resisting the urge to pull her close and wrap an arm around her and hold her against him so tightly she’d disappear into his skin. They started the uphill trek to Billy's house, Nessie remaining quiet along the entire journey. 

“I’ll take the couch, you can sleep in my bed,” Jacob said when they finally arrived in his bedroom, grabbing the extra pillow off the bed.

“No,” Nessie said. “Stay with me.” 

“Ness, I think… you said you needed time to think, and I don’t wanna smother you,” Jacob replied, hovering near the door.

“Please, Jacob,” she begged. “My entire world just turned upside down. I need you here.”

Jacob sighed but agreed, pulling a pair of pajama bottoms out of one of the dresser drawers and escaping to the bathroom to change. Nessie swapped her shorts out for a pair of cotton ones from her bag, digging through Jacob’s drawers to find a tank top to pull over her head. Jacob knocked once on the other side of the bathroom door in question.

“Decent,” Nessie replied, climbing into bed.

The door opened and Jacob walked out, tossing his jean shorts into the hamper. He looked up at Nessie, ready to climb into the bed with her. “Fuck,” he muttered with wide eyes focused on his tank top engulfing her tiny body. He closed his eyes tightly, composing himself before opening them and climbing in next to her. 

“Shirt,” Nessie demanded, tugging at the fabric. Jacob looked confused for half a second until she started helping him, tugging upward. “Off, please.” 

Part of Jacob figured he should probably protest again, but she was so tired she was speaking in one word sentences and all she wanted was to rest her head against his chest and feel his warmth. He complied easily, lying down next to her and pulling her against him. She moved her body around until she was on top of him entirely, her arms curved upward against her body and pinned between their chests. Jacob sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his lips against her hair. “I love you, Nessie.”

Nessie hummed, smiled. “Love you, Jake.” 


	7. you're the one that i want at the end of the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "[End of the Day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9eNg6girMU)" by One Direction. (Eventually I'll have used them all.)
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[Perfect Storm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htqDeOXBa1M)" by Brad Paisley  
> -" [Rather Be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUC_rzsiua8)" by Clean Bandit  
> -" [With Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8z-qP34-1Y)" by Sum 41

Jacob was up before Nessie the next day, lazily walking into the kitchen for some breakfast. Billy was already awake, wheeled up to the table and sipping a mug of coffee, black. “Good morning,” he said when he saw Jacob, his eyes amused and knowing. 

“Morning,” Jacob mumbled in response, opening the cabinet to find some cereal. He prepared it quietly, not much one for talking in the morning, and walked over to the table to sit across from his father. Billy stared at him above his newspaper, still smirking.

“I noticed you weren’t on the couch when I got home last night,” he said. 

“We slept, that’s it.”

“Mhmm, sure, sure. Just because I’m an old man doesn’t mean I’m senile.”

“She didn’t take the news very well,” Jacob admitted. “And even if she had, I wouldn’t try to sleep with her on the first night, dad. I care too much about her, and she isn’t ready. Besides, Edward would kill me.” 

Billy laughed loudly before it turned into a series of deep coughs. Jacob’s brow furrowed but he stayed seated, continued eating his cereal. If he tried to pat his father on the back or showed his worry in the slightest, Billy would go into a long speech on how he was a ‘big boy’ and didn’t ‘need any help.’ Jacob preferred not to have to hear the spiel again. 

“So what happened? I noticed her face at the bonfire before you left. She looked upset.”

Jacob shook his head, swallowing his food. “She didn’t put two and two together. She thought I’d imprinted on someone else. She hadn’t told me, but she’d fallen in love with me.” The last part caused him to smile. He still couldn’t believe it. Renesmee was in love with him. He’d hoped, of course, knew she at least liked him a lot, but wasn’t sure. 

“So what’s the problem?” 

Jacob became defensive, though he wasn’t sure why. “It’s a lot to take in, dad! We’ve lied to her her whole life. Put yourself in her shoes.”

“The person I’m in love with admits she’s going to love me for the rest of eternity and that nothing can drive her away, she’d never do anything to hurt me and would protect me even if it meant her death. I don’t see the problem,” he said lightly, trying not to cause Jacob to become even more defensive, even though it was quite a funny sight.

“The person she’s in love with admitted that he’d lied to her the whole time, and that everything that happened to her with the human boy she’d tried getting over him with could have been prevented if only he’d admitted from the start that no matter who she tried to move on with, chances were she’d still end up with him and she didn’t have to go through all of that in the first place,” Jacob retorted. 

Billy softened. “You can’t think that’s your fault.”

“I can and I do, dad. You know that.” 

His father looked down at his paper, but wasn’t reading it. Jacob knew he was stuck in memories with his mother again, and he sort of felt bad for bringing her up, but he had to get his point across. Just then, Nessie walked in, rubbing one of her eyes. Her hair was an absolute mess, curls tangled beyond repair and her night clothes were wrinkled and draped over her body haphazardly. Jacob loved her. 

“G’morning,” she mumbled, walking over to Jacob. Jacob wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his lap in much the same way he had the previous morning. This morning, she cuddled against him, nudging her head under his chin and closing her eyes. God, Jacob loved her. 

“Do you want breakfast?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Do you wanna go back to sleep?” She nodded. “Why’d you come out then? Should’ve kept sleeping if you were tired, babe.”

Nessie shuddered against him and he pulled her tighter, an instinct despite the fact that she most likely wasn’t shivering because she was cold. “You left,” she replied.

“I was hungry,” he apologized. “We can go back to bed if you want.” But she was shaking her head before he had even finished his sentence, pulling her head away from his chest and opening her eyes. 

“Good morning, Billy,” she said.

“Good morning, Miss Cullen,” Billy replied, the ghosts gone from his eyes as he watched his son interact with his imprint. 

“What do you wanna do this afternoon?” 

“Go cliff diving,” Nessie replied, smiling at him. 

Jacob rolled his eyes. “What else?” 

“Go to Claire’s birthday party.”

“Yes, I assumed we’d be doing that. What else?”

“Nothing,” she replied with a tight smile. It was the type she wore when she knew she was about to get her way. 

“Take the girl cliff diving, Jacob!” Billy chastised, earning another smile from Nessie. 

“Fine, fine,” Jacob complied. “But only for a little bit.”

“Alright,” Nessie nodded. “And we need to talk at some point. I have questions. Lots of questions.” 

They’d opted to talk before they visited Claire, sitting cross legged on the bed across from one another. “Do my parents know?” she asked, diving right into the questions that had plagued her dreams all night. 

“Your father reads minds,” Jacob replied dryly, and Nessie smiled. “But yes, your parents know. Your family knows,” he specified. 

“So everyone’s kept it from me, then?” 

Jacob flinched. “Yes, but only because we wanted you to know you had a choice. We didn’t want you growing up thinking that because I’d imprinted on you, we were going to end up together no matter what you did or what you wanted.”

“That was stupid,” Nessie replied, causing him to flinch again. “In what world would I not want you?”

“Whether you wanted me was never the question. _How_ you would want me was.”

“You knew how I felt. You had to have. I was obvious about it, despite my best efforts most days.”

“I knew you had a crush on me, Nessie, but having a crush on someone and being _in love_ with them are two separate things. If I’d known you were in love with me, I would have never let you waste your time with that _human_.” He spat the word like it was a curse. 

Nessie blushed. In hindsight, she figured she probably shouldn’t have dropped that bomb on him last night, but she couldn’t much help it in her hysteria. “Do you choose who you imprint on?” 

Jacob laughed. “No, it just happens.”

“What’s funny?” she asked, feeling a tad self-conscious.

“I tried to make myself imprint on a lot of different girls, when I was younger.”

“Oh?” A stab of jealousy shot through her. “Who?”

Jacob’s face fell a bit. “Um, well Nessie, a few random girls at the beach once. And um, actually, well... your mother?”

“What?” Nessie figured she’d fallen down the rabbit hole by this point. 

“Your mother and I, well you knew we were close friends before you were born, but she spent a lot of time round here when I was sixteen, before I transformed, and I sorta thought I was love with her? Tried stealing her away from your father and everything,” he said. “It didn’t feel like this, though, Renesmee,” he hurried to say. “I’ve never felt what I feel for you with anyone else. Could never, biologically. We only have one imprint.” 

“You and my mother were…. If I could be sick, I would be.”

"Nothing," Jacob hastened to correct. "We were nothing. We kissed once, but -"

Nessie held up her hand, groaning. "Please spare me the details."

“Sorry,” Jacob replied, cringing. “And I’m really sorry for keeping it from you. You would’ve never been in that truck with Chris if I’d told you the truth from the beginning, and I’ll never forgive myself for what you went through on that night.” He stared at his fingers, playing with a loose string on the duvet to avoid meeting her eyes. 

“Jacob, that wasn’t your fault.”

He scoffed. “So everyone says. Doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“Please don’t think it is. I shouldn’t have snuck out. Chris shouldn’t have done what he did. There’s a lot of ‘shouldn’t have’s and ‘what if’s but it’s not going to change anything. It happened and it’s over and I’m over it.”

“When’d you get so smart?” he asked, smiling. 

“Learned from the best, I suppose.” He turned smug. “My mom and dad,” she continued.

“Alright, asshole,” Jacob replied, pulling her forward and digging his fingers into her ribs. Her laughter filled the air. 

 

Later, Nessie slipped her bathing suit on underneath a [sundress](http://www.polyvore.com/nessies_outfit_to_clares_birthday/set?id=187650543), and paired it with some black sandals. Claire’s party was going to be on the beach, like mostly every event in La Push, so she, Jacob and a few of the wolves would be going cliff diving immediately afterward. 

“You are not wearing that,” Jacob said, entering the room without knocking. 

Nessie straightened up from where she was digging through her backpack for her locket and bracelet, turning around to face him with an arched eyebrow. “And you _won’t_ tell me what I can or cannot wear, Jacob Black,” she said sternly. 

Jacob whined, like an actual wolf whine. “But it’s so short, everyone’s going to be staring at you.”

“And you can’t just be happy you’ll have the imprint ‘everyone’s staring at’?” Nessie asked, complete with air quotes. That had been his excuse for her school uniform and the outfit she'd worn to the bonfire, too, and she was getting tired of it.

With a smirk, Jacob walked forward, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist, his hands dangling behind her ass. If he wanted, he could squeeze her cheeks with his hands, huge enough to engulf both of them. And, really, he did want to, but he’d refrain. He could refrain. “Everyone knows you’re beautiful already, Nessie. All of the unmated ones want you, whether they tell me so or not. I see them looking at you and I usually snap my teeth next to their necks to remind them they aren’t yours. I am.”

“Don’t you mean I’m not theirs, I’m yours?” she asked, arms still crossed despite Jacob’s closeness. 

Jacob shook his head. “You own me, not the other way around, Nessie. You’re the boss, here.”

“That settles it, then,” Nessie says. “I will be wearing whatever I want.”

Jacob groaned, throwing his head back. Nessie’s eyes zeroed in on his long, tan neck. She wondered what it’d be like to sink her teeth into it. Not to hurt him, but simply because the thought was turning her on horribly. 

He returned his gaze to her, eyebrow quirked, as if he could smell her arousal. “What are you thinking about right now?”

Nessie’s eyes remained on Jacob’s neck, even though she could see a lot less of it now. “Biting you,” she said honestly, causing Jacob to groan again, and pull away from her, flopping down on the bed. 

“Fuck.”

“How would that work?” Nessie asked, sitting down sideways on his thighs. Jacob placed one of his hands against her bare thigh. “Would it change you? Harm you at all? Scar you?”

“Nah,” Jacob replied. “You used to bite me a lot when you were younger, remember? You aren’t venomous so it wouldn’t much matter in the event that you did choose to bite me.” His voice had changed by the end, and his eyes were turning the black Nessie had seen a few times over the past few days. 

“Do you want me to bite you?” 

He whined again, throwing his other arm over his eyes. “Yes,” he breathed. 

Nessie smiled, straddling him for a better position, leaning over him and placing her mouth next to his neck. He moved infinitesimally closer to her. 

“Am I, um, interrupting something?” 

Nessie jumped violently, whirling around to face the door while Jacob groaned in frustration. “Thanks a lot, Seth.”

“Everyone’s leaving for Claire’s party,” Seth said, and Nessie jumped off Jacob’s lap, scurrying to the bathroom quickly out of embarrassment. 

“So, what exactly did I just walk in on, bro?” the younger wolf asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the door jam with a smirk.

Jacob ignored him, covering his lap with one of his hands. “Leave.”

Seth rolled his eyes, but laughed, turning around and leaving the way he came. “Better see you at that party, Jacob!” 

“Ready to go?” Nessie asked, avoiding Jacob’s eyes. 

“Yeah,” Jacob replied, wincing at his voice. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, let me just go to the bathroom.” He wished he had the time to jack off, but instead, he was forced to think about Edward naked until his dick went down far enough it wasn’t tenting his pants anymore. 

 

“Nessie!” Claire yelled, running across the beach for her. Nessie smiled at her wrapping her arms around the girl’s waist.

“How are you, lovely? I’ve missed you.” Watching Nessie with children broke Jacob's heart. Mostly because he’d always wanted children and now he’d probably never have any. Not that he blamed Nessie in the slightest, but she was so good with kids, and he just wished they could have their own.

“Good! I like your dress.”

“Thank you,” Nessie replied, turning to smile smugly at Jacob, who rolled his eyes. “Uncle Jay hates it.”

“He’s weird,” Claire retorted. “He can join the club, Quil’s being weird, too.” 

Jacob laughed loudly. “And on that note, I’m off to find him.” He pulled his arm from around Nessie’s waist, kissing her cheek before departing. Nessie smiled, watching him as he went.

“Are you and Uncle Jay dating now?” 

Nessie tilted her head a tad. “Not quite yet. Maybe soon,” she said. 

“I hope so,” Claire replied. “You would be really cute together. Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, starting to walk back towards the party.

“Of course.”

“I think I’ve got a crush on Quil.”

Nessie was gobsmacked by the confession. She’d figured it’d be something tinier, had no idea what kind of secrets twelve year olds held, remembered being far more concerned with politics and science when she was mentally twelve. She coughed to fill the silence while she figured out what to say. 

Fortunately, Quil swooped in at the same moment, saving her from having to answer by sweeping Claire up and over his shoulder. “You calling me weird, Claire-Bear?” he asked, feigning anger. 

Claire laughed loudly, her voice echoing off the cliffs and trees. “Quil!” she screamed. “Put me down!"

“Say I’m not weird!” he said.

“No!” 

He started walking towards the water. “Say I’m not weird or I’ll throw you in the ocean!”

Jacob walked up beside Nessie without her noticing, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they watched the scene with similar smiles. “Is Claire Quil’s imprint?” 

“Yup. Since she was two,” Jacob replied.

“Does he know Claire’s got a crush on him?”

Jacob cringed. “Yeah, he’s figured it out.” 

“Does she know?”

“Nope. He’s gonna tell her when she’s sixteen or seventeen. Hasn’t decided yet. ”

“He’s got a long wait ahead of him,” Nessie noted.

“And he’s only just gotten to the fun years.” 

Nessie smacked his chest. “Be nice.” Quil and Claire were in the water, now, absolutely soaked head to toe. Claire was angry, stomping out onto the beach and over to her parents. Quil stood in the water, confused while Claire motioned to her drenched dress during her conversation with her parents. She cut her eyes over to Jacob, who was already looking at her and they burst into laughter.

Claire forgave Quil an hour later, after he’d run up town and bought her a new dress. She smiled, threw her arms around him and called for him to take her somewhere to change. He did so happily, of course.

 

The party was over by four, having started at eleven, and Jacob, Nessie, Seth, Quil, Embry, Brady and Collin all piled into various trucks, headed towards the cliffs. Nessie had never been cliff diving before, but she’d watched the wolves do it a few times. Jacob always stayed away from the fun, sticking with her instead while they watched. Jacob always claimed she was ‘too young’ to do it, fearing for the half human side of her. 

They arrived at the cliffs barely even ten minutes later, the boys leaving their shirts behind in the trucks. Nessie took off her bracelet and necklace first, leaving them in the center console of Quil's, telling Jacob not to let her leave them behind. She unzipped the back of her dress, catching it before it fell to her feet and stepping out of it, throwing it in the passenger seat. 

“What in the hell are you wearing?” Jacob seethed beside her.

“A [swimsuit](http://www.polyvore.com/nessies_swimwear/set?id=187571368), Jacob,” Nessie replied, rolling her eyes. If he was going to question every outfit she put on her body now, she wasn't sure how this was going to work.

“No, that's two pieces of fabric that are _barely_ covering your...” He waved his arms around as if doing so would make the word he was looking for appear in mid air. “girl parts!” 

“Breasts and vagina,” Nessie supplied.

“Ugh!” Jacob groaned, covering his ears.

“No offense, Jacob, but you're 25 not 15. Grow up. If this 'imprinting' thing is going to work out the way we both want it to, you're eventually going to become very acquainted with those parts of my body so at least learn to say the words.”

Collin chose that moment to walk up, of course. “Hey are you guys comin' or – whoa. Nessie, you're fuckin' smokin'.” 

Jacob charged, growling and snapping his teeth at Collin. Quil and Seth rushed over to hold him back. Jacob was stronger than them, however, nearly breaking their hold multiple times. Collin was getting angrier by the second, starting to fight back, causing Brady and Embry to grab hold of him. Nessie screamed Jacob's name desperately. 

“Jacob,” Quil called, trying to be heard over Jacob's growls. He was shaking now, two seconds from transforming. “Jake, man, look at Nessie. You're upsetting your imprint.” 

That pulled Jacob back into the moment for a second, turning his head to look at Renesmee. She did look upset, wide-eyed and worried, hands covering her mouth. Jacob went limp in the boys' arms. “'M fine,” he mumbled. 

They let him go, cautiously, hovering nearby as he walked up to Nessie. Brady and Embry walked Collin away from the scene. Nessie was trembling as he approached. “Ness, baby, please don't be scared of me,” he begged. “I'm not going to hurt you.” He wrapped his arms around her slowly and Nessie tentatively rested her head against his naked chest, catching her breath. A few seconds later, she drew back quickly, raising her palm and slapping his bicep hard. 

“I swear to God, Jacob Black, if you ever do something that idiotic ever again, I will stop speaking to you forever!” 

Jacob flinched at her tone. “Okay, I'm sorry, but Collin-”

“'But Collin' nothing!”

“Okay, okay, I'm sorry,” Jacob said again, pulling her into his chest again, begging her to forgive him. 

Nessie sighed deeply. “Go apologize to your brother, Jake, not me. Just... you've just gotta stop telling me what to wear and getting mad about what I wear, Jacob. It's my body, alright?”

Jacob hesitated, but nodded. “I'll try.”

“You'll do so,” Nessie replied, pulling away again, but running her hand down Jacob's arm to his hand, linking their fingers and tugging him along towards the cliffs.

“Sorry, bro,” Jacob mumbled as they passed Collin.

“'S alright.” Collin replied with a shrug and a smile. “I'm sorry, too.”

Jacob pulled him into a one arm embrace, unwilling to let go of Nessie's hand to give him a proper hug. “I'm just getting used to these feelings, you know? She didn't have a 'smokin' hot' body a year ago,” he said quietly. 

Embry laughed, pulling away. “We gonna jump off this cliff or are we going to talk about our fuckin' feelings all night?”

Jacob laughed, punching his shoulder. “We're gonna jump off this cliff.”


	8. still look good for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "[Good For You" by Selena Gomez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXKHCgNFk1I)
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- "[Break on Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFP8BiGcEH4)" by Keith Urban  
> \- "[I Know Places](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leIw8gfBTtw)" by Taylor Swift  
> \- "[Bang Bang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDdjwpPM3Y)" by Jessie J

Returning to school on Monday was a tad strange. She and Jacob acted like they were together, to a degree, and she knew rumors were flying about the two of them, but they hadn't really sat down and talked about anything since they returned from La Push. Nessie was grounded and Jacob had to sleep in his own bed, and the moment she'd gotten home the previous night, her parents had pulled her aside to see if she wanted to talk to _them_. 

She supposed it was rational that she was a bit angry with her family, and therefore was acting somewhat sour to everyone, including Jacob at times. They'd lied to her for _years_! Lied wasn't the right word, really. She'd never asked _“Hey does Jacob have some sort of weird connection with me?”_ , but they had withheld critical, life changing information from her since she was born, and she felt like she had a right to be a tad bit upset about it. 

On top of everything, her parents hadn't decided if they were going to let her tryout for cheerleading yet, though she knew they probably would and were only drawing it out to punish her further for the smoking incident. 

“If you don't start paying attention in class, you won't have the GPA required to participate in cheerleading, so it won't matter,” her father said quietly.

Nessie rolled her eyes, placing her hand against his forearm discreetly. _We both know that's a lie. I could pass this class while sleeping._

“Pay attention anyway.”

Nessie sighed, but turned her attention towards her professor. 

Jacob was a bit late meeting them after class let out, and Nessie realized he was no longer ducking out early or skipping classes all together thanks to Edward's lecture. Nessie walked slower to give him time to catch up. She felt a pair of abnormally warm hands press over her eyes and smiled. “Guess who?” Jacob whispered in her ear.

“Channing Tatum.”

“Ugh, you wish,” Jacob retorted, pulling his hands away and reaching down to intertwine their fingers together instead. “How was biology?” 

“Shitty. Got in trouble for not paying attention by Edward.” It still felt strange to her, saying her parents given names when she talked about them, but she had to make sure not to slip up and say 'mom' or 'dad' because there was no telling who might be listening in on their conversations, and the school hallways were packed with students trying to get to class. 

Jacob hummed. “What were you thinking about?”

“Lots of different things, nothing in particular,” Nessie said.

He wore a smirk that said he knew he was probably in that list and was proud of it, as if there were ever a time Nessie _wasn't_ thinking of him. She knocked her shoulder against his bicep with a smile. 

“Do you think we could talk after school today? While we do our homework or whatever?” Jacob asked. 

Nessie's stomach flipped. She wasn't sure what that meant, really. “Yeah, sure. Sounds good,” she replied, her voice just a hint higher than normal.

Jacob smirked before leaning in to kiss her forehead. “I've got English with Edward next and if he's already gotten on to you today, I imagine he's in the sort of mood to do the same to me. See you after.”

She nodded and he left, heading back towards the English building. Jasper was waiting for her next to the door of their American History class and followed her in when she stepped inside just as the bell began ringing. They took their seats and Nessie felt a wave of relaxation and calm settle over her. She fought to break the spell and turned to glare at Jasper. His eyes were a bit sad and pleading. _Stop with the mind games._

“I despise it when you're angry with me,” Jasper replied quietly. 

“I despise being lied to by the entire family,” Nessie retorted.

“You know I couldn't make any call on how your parents saw fit to raise you, Nessie.” 

She ignored him even though deep down she knew he was right. It didn't work for long, however, because soon after the start of class, the professor instructed them to work in pairs to complete a brochure to 'sell their colony'. It sounded like one of the more fun projects of the class, but it couldn't fall at a worse time. 

“I don't really blame you,” Nessie admitted about halfway through the project. “I'm just really upset and confused. Half of me is overjoyed that I'll most likely spend the rest of my life with Jacob and I do really, really love him, but the other half of me is terrified I won't ever get to experience anything outside our coven.”

Jasper smiled, just happy Nessie was talking to him again. And of course, he knew her feelings already, but having the explanations behind them were always a welcome change. “I can't say I understand, because I experienced a life far before Alice came along, but I can tell you having Alice in my life has made me the happiest I've ever been. None of the stuff that happened before Alice can even compare to life with her. If I could go back, I'd give it all up in a second if I coulda met her sooner.”

Nessie sighed. “I know, and I know in the end, I'll obviously be with Jacob no matter what but I'm just not sure how I feel about it. It's a bit hopeless to fight it, isn't it?”

“No,” Jasper argued. “From what I understand about this imprinting ordeal, if you don't want Jacob to be anything more than a friend, he won't be. He could be your best friend for the rest of your life if that's what you want from him. This is why it was kept from you, they wanted to stress that you had a choice.”

The bell rang not long after, leaving Nessie with more to think about than she'd originally went in with. Despite her confusion, she raced to the cafeteria, desperate to see Jacob again. Even though he was technically the reason for all of her turmoil, she felt better in his arms. 

 

Renesmee served the volleyball high into the air and over the net, hitting it viciously towards Tiffany's side of the gym. She'd been particularly nasty to Nessie today in the locker room, and Nessie had done her best to ignore the human, but it was getting more and more difficult with every jab. And it hadn't stopped in the locker room either, continuing into the gym with snide remarks and bumps into Nessie's shoulder with every pass. It took all Nessie had to pretend to be bumped out of place by Tiffany's fragile shoulder. If she could only stand her ground, she supposed the girl's shoulder would probably pop out of place with the force she'd exert to bump into her. 

It really didn't help that Chris was on Nessie's team as well, and though he was trying to avoid eye contact with Renesmee, and especially Emmett and Jacob, he didn't fair well when Tiffany was draping herself over him and watching Nessie while she whispered in Chris' ear every time she had the opportunity to cross the net. 

When Tiffany hit the ball back over the net to Nessie's side and it just barely grazed her head, causing the coach to blow his whistle and tell her to cut it out, Jacob was by her side in an instant. “It was an accident Coach Jesse, I swear!” Tiffany promised. 

Nessie was seething and Jacob wrapped his arms around her tightly, kissing her hair. “I know it's hard but try, we'll go hunting after school and you can tear as many things to shreds as you want, alright? Forty more minutes, baby,” Jacob whispered.

“Aw, look at the lovebirds!” Tiffany's voice sounded over the crowd. “You planning on leading Jacob on and then crying rape whenever you get under him, as well?” 

“Stevens! That's enough!” The coach called as the students gasped and laughed. 

“I could kill her, I swear I could kill her,” Nessie mumbled against Jacob's chest. 

Jacob shushed her, running her ponytail through his fingers a few times. 

“Alright, alright, that's enough! Back to the game! I mean it, Stevens. One more and you're going straight to the Headmistress.”

Nessie pulled away from Jacob and they returned to their places. A net was the only tangible thing separating Nessie and Tiffany at this point, a net so easily ripped in two between Nessie's hands. “Ready, Masen?”

Nessie rolled her eyes in response as Tiffany served the ball. Jacob hit it back over the net and it volleyed a few more times before Tiffany got a hold of it and spiked it straight into Nessie's stomach. Between the two seconds it took for the ball to hit Nessie and then fall to the ground, she was nearly over the net, teeth bared and arms flailing as she tried to pull herself out of Jacob's arms to get to Tiffany. 

“Baby, baby, please don't fight me," Jacob whispered with urgency. "Please, Nessie. You'll reveal us, babe.” Nessie stopped fighting as hard, but her eyes were still locked in on Tiffany's fearful face and her teeth were still clenched. “Think, Ness. Calm down and think. You're already grounded. You've got cheerleading. Your parents will fucking kill you. No more La Push visits, no more runs with me.” Nessie started calming, chest heaving with unnecessary breaths as she relaxed against Jacob's chest, fingers loosening their grip on his arms. She smelt blood and looked down, noticing crescent shaped marks dotted with blood on Jacob's forearms.

“Black! Cullen! Take your sister outside and calm her down! Stevens, Headmistress's office, now!”

Jacob led Nessie out the back door of the gym, Emmett close beside them. Had he been there the whole time without her noticing? “Not my sister!” Jacob called back to the coach as they left.

“Girlfriend, Black, whatever!”

Nessie noticed he didn't correct him that time. Chris walked with Tiffany out the front door of the gym, presumably walking her to the Main Office. 

“I hate her!” Nessie screamed the moment the door closed behind her. “I hate her so fucking much!” She slammed her fist into the brick wall beside them, denting the brick a bit. Jacob reached up and swiped her hand away from it before she could make another attempt. Nessie screamed again and Jacob reached up to grab her other wrist in his fist as well, creating shackles around them. Nessie pushed against him and Jacob shushed her delicately. 

“Come on, baby. Shhhh, I know you do, I know you do.” He forced her against his chest, releasing her wrists to wrap his arms around her as her tears started falling.

“I'm not-” Nessie sobbed, breathing deeply with the efforts. “I'm not going to 'cry rape' when we -”

“I know, baby. I know,” Jacob interrupted. His eyes met Emmett's over her shoulder and a moment of silent communication passed between them before Emmett nodded his head and reentered the gym. Jacob pulled one hand up to cradle Nessie's head, pressing kisses against her temple. “If we get there, it will be the most amazing, special experience of my life and I will worship every single inch of you, because that's what you deserve. You're so beautiful, and you deserve to be treated just as beautifully and this stupid ass school, Tiffany, Chris, they're just jealous of you because deep down, they know they're ugly bastards on the inside and you, Renesmee, are gorgeous inside and out, alright?” Her tears were slowing, and she nodded against his chest. “I love you,” Jacob said. 

Nessie sniffed. “Love you.”

 

 

The rest of the family was outraged when they heard the news about what happened in the gym. Edward and Bella were second guessing ever making Nessie go to school in the first place, looking over at their daughter every few minutes with worried looks painted on their faces. From her place in Jacob's lap, Nessie pressed her face into his chest to avoid seeing them anymore, focusing instead on Jacob’s fingers running through her hair. 

“Do you wanna go to your room?” he murmured lowly, despite the fact that everyone in the house would've heard him anyway.

Nessie nodded, standing and reaching for his hand to help him up. 

Her parents watched them walk upstairs warily, but didn't say anything. She knew she was still grounded but surely, they would make an exception after the hellacious day she'd had. Jacob stopped by his bedroom to grab his backpack before following Nessie into hers.

“Did you still want to talk, or would you rather just work on homework for now?”

Nessie took a seat on the bed, patting the place next to her in invitation for Jacob. “No, we can still talk. I'd like to get everything out of my head at least.”

Jacob sat down on the bed, crossing his overly large legs and mirroring Nessie's position across from her. “Alright.”

An uncomfortable silence emerged, Nessie and Jacob staring at one another and waiting for the other to talk. After a few moments, bubbly laughter spilled out from between Nessie's lips, Jacob following suit shortly thereafter, eyes shining. “This is ridiculous,” she said. “It doesn't have to be this serious. I mean, we both know how it's going to end up, so why bother fighting it?”

Something about Nessie's words struck Jacob in a strange way. “It's only going to end up that way if you want it to, Ness. You've got the power to choose.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Nessie replied waving her hand through the air. “I know, but we both know which I’m going to choose. I love you.”

_'I love you.'_ Like that was the answer to everything, every single question in all of the universe. For Jacob, he supposed it was. 'Why is the sky blue?' Because Renesmee Carlie Cullen loves him.

He must've waited too long to respond, or perhaps he was wearing a ridiculous grin on his face, because Nessie said, “What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he replied. “Just that I love you, too.” 

“I like how we are right now,” Nessie said. “I want to take it slow, if that's okay. The 'being out of the loop' thing is still really bugging me. It irritates me that I've had this whole... like, majorly huge aspect of my life that I was kept in the dark about.” Jacob opened his mouth to apologize again, but Nessie stopped him. “I'm not blaming anyone, I understand why everyone chose to do that, I just don't like it.”

Jacob still felt guilty, despite her obvious dismissal of his blame in the situation. Desperately, more than anything, he just wanted to hold her in his arms, lie down with her and take a nap after the terribly strenuous day they'd had. Perhaps Edward would kill him after the fact, and let them enjoy their moment in the time being. 

Like she could read his mind, Nessie scooted closer to him, climbing into his lap and snuggling her head against his chest like she had in the living room. She pushed at his chest lightly until he got the hint, lying down against the pillows with her in his arms. Sometimes the Imprinting thing still shocked him, the connection they had, the ability to just _know_ what the other needed sometimes. 

“Love you lots,” Nessie mumbled. 

“Like tater tots,” Jacob completed. 

Nessie crinkled her nose in disgust.

The following day, Jacob walked into Nessie's closet only to find her still clad in her [bathrobe](https://65.media.tumblr.com/3606e3ba0764f9d5b3e98acbbbc85621/tumblr_ogs884Ta6o1qcyc6eo1_500.jpg), staring at her wardrobe aimlessly. He quickly adverted his eyes to the floor, ignoring the twist in his lower stomach in favor of paying attention to the look on her face. “What's the matter, Ness?”

Nessie turned towards him slowly. “Haven't decided what to wear yet.”

“Uniform's usually a good place to start.”

Her eyes lit up as she rolled them, a smile finally gracing her features. “No shit, asshole. You think it's so easy then, you pick out my clothes.”

Jacob smiled in a similar way, but with a competitive edge to it. “Alright.” He sauntered towards the collection of white button downs she owned and flicked through them a little more roughly than she would have herself, before finally choosing one with a peter pan collar and tossing it over to the bench. 

Her blazer was on a hook by the closet door and once he spotted it, it and one of her school skirts ended up on the bench as well. A white camisole with lace met the same fate as Jacob passed them on the way to Nessie's wall of shoes. After scouring the selection of black for a few seconds, he emerged with a pair of four inch Mary Jane style Lou Boutins. 

“I'm stopping you here,” Nessie said regretfully with a smirk. “Those are four inches and the largest we can wear are three.”

Jacob's returning answer was a very confused gaze, causing Nessie's smirk to soften as she walked over to him and took the shoes gently from his fingers, returning them to their place before reaching for a similar pair from memory. “These are three and a quarter, but probably easier to pass as three. Will they suffice?” Jacob studied them for a few seconds before nodding and ushering her back to the bench.

“Do you own any white leggings?” he asked.

The mental picture this outfit was causing in Nessie's mind jumbled a bit. “Do you mean tights?”

“What's the difference?”

“Tights are more delicate and dressy and cover from waist to toe, leggings are more like pants and stop at the ankle,” Nessie explained.

“Tights, then, I think.”

Nessie hummed, walking over to one of the dressers in the closet and opening it. “Do you have some sort of innocent school girl fetish going on, Mr. Black?”

“No!” Jacob replied defensively. “Just think you'd look pretty. Don't really know what I'm doing.” 

She pulled a pair of white thigh-high socks from the drawer, closing it and walking over to Jacob. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest, kissing his tie as he returned her hug.“You're doing well, babe. I was kidding.”

“Babe?” Jacob asked, with a quirked eyebrow. Nessie met his gaze.

“What? You're allowed to call me babe and baby, but I can't return the favor?” Jacob was a bit speechless, fishmouthing a few times before clearing his throat.

“Y-Yeah, yeah, you can. That's fine.”

Nessie's smirk returned as she pulled away. “I don't have white tights, but will these do? The top will be hidden under my skirt.” Jacob nodded. “Are you done?”

Jacob looked at the pile of clothes on the bench. “Did I forget anything?”

“Lingerie,” Nessie whispered with a quirked eyebrow.

Jacob's gulp could be seen from space, probably. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, regaining his restraint. Her father was right down stairs, her entire family was, and any of them could kill him in .02 seconds if he made an advance on Nessie right now. And Nessie wasn't ready. “Um, white. White lace.”

“Yes, sir,” Nessie replied, causing a quiet whine to come from Jacob. 

“I'll wait in your bedroom,” he finally replied, dashing out of her closet quickly and leaving her to dress.

Nessie rolled her eyes when Jacob shut the door to her closet behind him, a door that was rarely – if ever – closed. Still, she walked over to her lingerie dresser and pulled out a white lace bra and matching thong, taking off her robe and returning it to the back of the bathroom door before shrugging on the bra and stepping into the panties. 

The rest of her dressing went by rather quickly, excited as she was to show off for Jacob. It awakened butterflies in her stomach and caused everything that happened the previous day to melt from her mind. She pulled her jewelry and watch on haphazardly along with her socks. When she opened the door leading into her bedroom, Jacob was lying on the bed in a forced stance of casualty. The bulge in his pants wasn't as easily hidden as he was hoping, and Nessie zeroed in on it. Jacob stood, causing her gaze to return to his eyes, which were currently raking over her. A small piece of her felt self-conscious and it was screaming at her to cross her legs, cover herself with her arms, but the rest of her knew that this was her wolf, and he loved her, no matter what.

“[How does it look?](http://www.polyvore.com/jacobs_outfit_for_nessie/set?id=193266206)” she asked.

Jacob walked towards her slowly, eyes still devouring her. “God, you're so fucking sexy,” he growled. Downstairs, they heard an answering growl – fiercer and angrier than Jacob's. “Beautiful,” Jacob corrected. “Sorry, you look beautiful, baby.”

Nessie smirked and tilted her head a bit. “Think I preferred sexy if I'm being honest.”

Edward and Jacob growled simultaneously. Jacob crowded her, gently pulling her hair aside and lowering his face towards her neck. Instinct caused Nessie to tilt her head further, give him the space he needed to bury himself against her. His lips pressed against her skin lightly, landing just above her collar. He inhaled deeply and groaned again, a curious reaction, but before Nessie had time to question it, her father was yelling from downstairs that she'd be grounded for a hell of a lot longer if they didn't get downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is good at choreography, especially cheerleading choreography, please leave your name in a review and I'll message you privately! Thank you :)


	9. i think i've finally found my hallelujah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song from "[Good to be Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBfx4auZw4)" by Andy Grammer

Nessie was struggling to stay awake through the professor's lecture on The Scarlet Letter and the symbolism of Hester's letter throughout the novel when the intercom buzzed to life and quieted Professor Radburn as the person on the other end called his name. 

“Yes?” the Professor answered, irritation clear in his voice at having been interrupted. 

“Headmistress Pierce would like to speak with Renesmee Masen, please.”

The rest of the class 'ooh'ed in the very cliché way of a group of fifteen year olds locked in a room together with only this to entertain them. Nessie rolled her eyes at them, standing and gathering her things as the professor finished up the call and tried to regain the class' attention. 

She'd just exited the English building when she heard her name being called, and turned towards the source. Behind her, Jacob and Emmett were quickly approaching. “Were you called to the Headmistress, too?” Nessie asked, confused. 

They both nodded, mirroring her confusion. “Come on, probably shouldn't keep her waiting. Carlisle's going to kill us if we've done anything to expose the family,” Emmett reasoned, tugging Renesmee along.

“You're the one who tried to choke out a human, Emmett!” 

“In his defense, I also tried to choke that asshole,” Jacob replied, flinching against Nessie's answering glare. 

They arrived in the main office shortly after, standing awkwardly in the waiting area as the secretary called Headmistress Pierce on the phone to announce their arrival. After a few “yes ma'am”s and “thank you”s that seemed misplaced to Nessie's ear, she directed them to a line of chairs against the wall beneath a giant [quote](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/171277592056936192/) scrawled across the wall in beautiful navy calligraphy. A blonde haired woman in probably her late thirties or early forties sat next to them, legs crossed under her pencil skirt, tapping her toes against the tile floor. She was staring straight ahead, at a trophy case, with her arms crossed and an enraged grimace on her face. 

The clacking of two sets of high heels alerted her attention to a hallway leading into the depths of the office. Tiffany emerged from the hall, cheeks red and wet and makeup smudged. When she caught Nessie's eye, her eyes turned to fire and the phrase 'if looks could kill' had never rung truer. Both of them stopped when they reached the waiting area, the lady next to Nessie grabbing her phone off her lap and standing. She was whispering harshly and angrily at Tiffany with words Nessie couldn't believe were being shared between a mother and her child. After she'd had her say, she stormed out of the front office, Tiffany hot on her heels, wiping at her face. Nessie almost felt bad for the girl, but before she really had the time to, the Headmistress was calling the three of them back into her office.

“Please, have a seat,” she said, motioning to the chairs in front of her desk. Two were very regal, cherry wood and soft navy cushions, while one was a basic rolling desk chair. It was obvious it had been pulled in to accommodate the third person. Jacob and Emmett waited until Nessie was seated to seat themselves, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the headmistress. 

“Let me start by saying none of you are in trouble, so you can breathe easy,” Nessie let out an audible, but unnecessary huff of air while the boys smiled. “Coach Jesse approached me after school on Thursday to speak to me about what he witnessed in gym class between you,” she nodded towards Nessie. “and Miss Stevens, and I would like to get your side of the story. Afterwards, I will ask the two of you to tell me what you've witnessed. Now, Miss Masen, would you like your brothers to step out while you share your story or are you comfortable with them being here?”

Nessie hesitated, turning to Jacob for a second before answering. “Um, they can stay. But it's important you understand that Emmett is my adopted brother and Jacob is a friend of the family my adopted parents took in, we aren't related – adopted or otherwise.” 

The headmistress looked confused, probably wondering why it was relevant to their conversation, but nodded. “My apologies on the misunderstanding.”

“It's a common one. Um, with Tiffany, it started on the first day of school?” Nessie could recite the story perfectly from memory – every word, muscle movement, every tick of the second hand on a clock – but doing so would definitely sound odd, so she tried to hesitate a bit between some sentences. “She was interested in Jacob, and asked me if the two of us were together. I told her we weren't, and in an effort to make a friend,” Nessie omitted that she'd actually done it because she was trying to set Jacob free. “I told her I'd put a good word in with Jacob for her.” The headmistress nodded in understanding, scribbling a few things down on a pad of paper hidden from their eyes on her desk. “I did so, but Jacob wasn't interested and later in the day, I was upset about something, and Jacob consoled me – hugged me – which I guess Tiffany saw, because that was when she started disliking me. During the same class, her ex-boyfriend Chris started talking to me and asked for my number. When I returned to the locker room – oh! This was in gym, by the way,” she added, as if she'd accidentally left it out in the beginning. “Anyway, when I went to the locker room after class, she was talking to this girl, Ana, and a few others – I don't know their names, sorry – about how I was sleeping with both Jacob and Chris and called me ugly and stuff, I don't remember everything she said.”

“This was all on the first day of school?” Headmistress Pierce asked, seeming shocked. 

Nessie nodded. “And then, after that, she sorta ignored me in person but spread rumors about me behind my back, and it sort of came to a head when I went on a date with Chris.” Jacob's fist tightened around the arm of his chair and Emmett discreetly got his attention and tried to calm him down without gaining the eyes of the headmistress. “Um, the date went a bit sour, I suppose you could say -”

“Meaning Chris tried to rape her, but she got away.” The headmistress gasped.

“Jacob!” 

“You've got to tell the truth, Nessie. Don't sugarcoat it.”

Nessie closed her eyes, feeling tears threatening to flow over in mortification. A warm hand laid across hers on the chair and she knew it was Jacob. She opened her eyes and turned towards him slightly. “It's nothing to be ashamed of, baby. Headmistres Pierce needs to know these things so they can help us keep you safe, right?” He turned to the headmistress, ignoring her gaping as she composed herself and nodded.

“Yes, Miss Masen.”

Nessie inhaled deeply, a reflex to a tense situation. “Chris tried to rape me and I got away. I went home and told my parents. When we returned to school, Chris met us in the parking lot and was trying to pull me away from them to talk to me, but my siblings and Jacob wouldn't let him. Jacob and I walked away, while the rest of my siblings stayed behind to talk to them, so I don't know what happened after I left. I'm assuming Chris told Tiffany about it though, because Tiffany started spreading the rumor that I was lying about everything and then in gym on Thursday, she was really giving me a hard time. Chris had started leaving me alone, but Tiffany was trying to aim the volleyball at me and hit me with it as often as she could. I was getting angry, and Jacob was trying to console me and she – um. She asked...”  
Even if she was part vampire and nearly invincible, and sex was a natural part of life, especially in the Cullen household, it was still awkward as hell talking about sex with the headmistress of your school. 

“Tiffany asked her if Nessie was going to 'cry rape' when she slept with me,” Jacob finished for her. The poor headmistress was more confused than ever. 

“Jacob and Renesmee got together recently,” Emmett supplied with an amused smile. “Which is why she corrected you when you said Jacob was her brother.”

“Continue please, Miss Masen, if you can.”

Nessie nodded. “Honestly, I wanted to hit her, but Jacob held me back. Coach Jesse told Tiffany to come see you and sent Jacob, Emmett and I outside to calm down.”

“I see,” Headmistress Pierce replied, straightening the papers she's scribbled on. “First and foremost, I want to say thank you for being honest with me, even when it was difficult for you or might have gotten you into trouble. Secondly, I'd like you to know that Miss Stevens has been suspended from Berkeley for ten days for bullying. Because she is a senior, she will still be trying out for the cheerleading team this weekend, and if she's put on a team, she will be benched for the entire season. This is in order for her to fulfill the sports requirement. She will still practice with the team and attend all games, but will not be cheering and will not get a head spot on the team. She will be taken out of your gym class and moved to a different period, and the two of you will never be in the same class for any reason. Is this fair to you?”

Nessie nodded. “Yes ma'am, thank you.”

“The physical, emotional and mental safety of our students is very important to me,” she replied simply. “About Mr. Lockwood, did your family press charges?” Nessie shook her head. “Do you want to?” 

“No ma'am,” Nessie replied and the headmistress looked at her inquisitively. 

“If you change your mind or if you need to talk about it, please don't hesitate to let any member of the staff know.” Nessie nodded. “I'm going to call Mr. Lockwood during third period and I will listen to his side of the story. As it is, he will most likely be expelled. His parents will probably put up a fuss about it so please beware that without tangible proof, it may be hard for me go through with doing so.”

Emmett cleared his throat beside them, shifting his weight onto one thigh as he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket, showing it the headmistress. “May I?” Headmistress Pierce waved her hand in a 'continue' motion, prompting Emmett to unlock his phone and tap against the screen for a few moments before passing the phone over to the headmistress. “Would this help Nessie's case any?”

She read for a few seconds before smiling ruefully. “This would certainly change things.”

“What?” Nessie asked, looking between the headmistress and Emmett. Headmistress Pierce gave the phone back to Emmett after scrawling something down on her paper, and Emmett handed it over to Nessie. 

On the screen was an Instagram post from Chris' account of her and Tiffany playing volleyball the other day, moments before the ball hit Nessie. The caption was rude, but overall, it didn't mean much to her, just solidified how horrible Chris and Tiffany were.

 

The rest of the day went by rather smoothly and gym was an absolute breeze. With both Tiffany and Chris absent, Ana and Samantha looked absolutely lost, hanging around on the edge of the gym, whispering to each other. Coach Jesse assigned them bookwork and Jacob, Emmett and Nessie kept to their own spot on the pull out wooden bleachers. 

Upon returning home, Nessie's parents pulled her aside and into the living room while the rest of the family retired upstairs. 

“Your mother and I have decided,” Edward started. “That you may go to tryouts this weekend and join the cheerleading squad if you're offered a position.”

Nessie squealed in excitement and made a move to get up and hug her parents, but her father held up his hand to stop her.

“However, due to the incidents with Chris and your small fits of bloodlust, we feel it would be safer for your mother to attend the clinics, appearing as if she were also trying out for the team.”

“At the end of the second clinic, I'll tell the coaches I've changed my mind and don't want to be on the team any longer,” Bella assured.

“We just feel it would be safer for everyone involved. It isn't that we don't trust you, we're just understandably a little weary.”

Nessie was absorbing all of the information presented to her. She wasn't sure how she felt about her _mother_ attending the clinics with her, but if she wasn't going to be on the team, and this was the only way _she_ could be on the team, she supposed it was fair. She said as much to her parents.

Edward smiled. He'd been worried his daughter would be a bit unreasonable about the restrictions. “If you go upstairs to Carlisle's study, he'll do your physical and sign the forms. Tomorrow, we'll go to school a bit early and you can stop by the office to get your transcripts and approach your chosen professors do write their recommendations. Your mother and I have already filled out the packet paperwork for both you and her and will attach the application fee to each application. After your physical, we'll go to town to get you some outfits for clinics and tryouts. You may invite Jacob if you'd like.”

Nessie stood and offered her arms again, causing her father to smile at her and stand as well, wrapping her in his arms. “It's good to see you finally happy, love,”' he whispered.

The next day was hectic, Nessie barely throwing together a decent uniform before hurrying her parents and Jacob out the door so she could together everything she needed to turn in. She was standing in the main office, waiting for the secretary to print her transcripts when the tell-tale sound of heels echoed throughout the room. 

“Miss Masen, is everything alright?” 

Nessie turned to face the headmistress, plastering her best smile on her face. “Oh! Headmistress Pierce! Yes, everything's fine. I'm just here to get my transcripts. I'm going to tryout for the cheerleading squad this weekend,” she said with a smile, doing her best to make her face look as innocuous and benevolent as possible. 

“Oh? Have you gotten your recommendations from your professors yet?”

The beautiful smile on Nessie's face was wicked in her mind. “Not yet, no ma'am. I'm on my way to ask them after this.”

“Well if you'd like, I could write up a letter for you and you could pick it up during Study Hall? Might help your odds,” the headmistress said with a private wink. 

Nessie forced excitement into her eyes. “Would you? Oh, that'd be amazing, thank you headmistress!” 

The secretary chose then to hand Nessie her transcripts, sealed in an envelope marked with the school crest. “Of course, Miss Masen. I have high hopes for you and your siblings here at Berkeley, and I'm very proud of you for deciding to tryout for the team despite the bullying of Miss Stevens.”

Asking the other professors was an absolute breeze and by the end of the day, she had everything turned into the main office and a smile on her face. She'd ended up asking the required professors – Algebra, English and Biology – for their letters, along with Professor Keyes and Coach Jesse. In total, with the headmistress's letter, she had six letters of recommendation. She hoped it would weigh in in her favor. 

 

The next morning, she awoke to a kiss on her forehead and fingers brushing through her hair. She smiled, forcing herself into consciousness, and opened her eyes to be met with an image of her father, sitting on her bed, with a tray of breakfast foods and a glass of what smelt like donated human blood on his lap. They rarely spoiled her with human blood.

“Good morning, princess,” he whispered. “I thought we could all skip school and celebrate your birthday a little early, considering you have cheerleading this weekend. What do you think?” 

Nessie's smile grew, as she sat up, shuffling the blankets around her in effort to keep them around her waist. Her father hated her sleeping attire. “That sounds amazing, daddy, thank you.”

She ate her breakfast in silence, her father content with staring at her as she did so, a smile lightly resting upon his cheeks. Nessie was used to this, her parents stared at her a lot, especially when she was younger. As she was finishing the last of her scrambled eggs, her father lifted his hand to run his fingers through her curls some more. Nessie smiled back at him, putting down her fork and lifting the breakfast tray off her lap. 

“Start getting ready for the day so Jacob can come in to see you, and then we'll go downstairs for presents. Esme is cooking your favorite for dinner tonight and your mother's baked a cake.” He kissed her forehead and took the tray, leaving the room after his daughter's quiet 'thank you'.

Nessie stretched, swinging her legs out from under the covers and padding across the room, through her closet and to the bathroom. She took her time in the shower, knowing she had the whole day ahead of her. She still needed to choreograph a routine for her cheerleading tryouts, but that would take no time at all, especially in the comfort of her own back yard, where no one could see her dancing at super-speed. 

After drying out her hair, she returned to her closet, pilfering through her dresses before deciding on a navy blue, lacy dress that would fall just around her knees. She wrapped a braided, brown belt around the midsection of her waist and paired it with a pair of brown booties. 

A knock on her door sounded just as she was finishing up her makeup, and when she called for him to do so, Jacob strolled through. “Good morning, birthday girl,” he said, crouching down to wrap his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder. 

Flutters swam through Nessie's stomach and she struggled to keep her lips still as she swiped lip balm across them. After rubbing them together, she replied, “Not quite yet, but Daddy says we're celebrating today. Do you know what I'm getting?”

Jacob hummed. “I do, but I'm under strict orders not to tell you.”

“You're _my_ imprint,” Nessie said. “I command you to tell me!” The skin between her eyebrows was crinkled, and despite her efforts to sound domineering, Jacob just thought she looked cute.

“Doesn't quite work that way, babe. However, your father provides me a place to live and pays for my schooling out of the kindness of his heart. If he tells me not to ruin the surprise, I'm not going to ruin the surprise.” Nessie glared at him through the mirror, arms crossed. Jacob kissed her temple, maintaining eye contact. “Finish getting ready, baby. You're gonna wanna see what's in store.”


	10. tell em that it's my birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from ["Birthday" by Selena Gomez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbOhQOfy55o)
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- ["Shots" by LMFAO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNtTEibFvlQ)  
> \- ["Girl Almighty" by One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJU9bnfGgs)  
> \- ["Blame It" by Jamie Foxx](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfjtpp90lu8)

Renesmee had been spoiled by her family her entire life, and her birthday was no different. Her aunts had showered her with brand names - purses, shoes, clothes, even perfumes - while her Uncle Emmett supplied her with a pair of [Coachella](http://splash.coachella.com/) tickets for the following April. (“How!? These aren’t even available for sale until January!” Her uncle had just smirked.) Jasper had gotten her some jewelry - with Alice’s input, she was sure; Carlisle, a smart watch; and Esme, a new laptop. 

While she was certainly thankful for everything her family had gotten her, she knew her favorite present by far would be the one she was currently being led to, Jacob’s hands over her eyes as she followed her parents into the garage. And sure, it was cliche, but when she opened her eyes to a white [BMW](https://66.media.tumblr.com/ac8c3f8613c4d39a2eb275121e20da40/tumblr_odrggmDau61qcyc6eo2_r1_540.png), she squealed. 

“You can’t drive it anywhere, just yet. Not without your mother or I, just until we get your driver’s license from Jenks,” her father warned in the background, but she didn’t much hear him. She was too busy running her fingers along the hood and across the side to the door handle. She tugged it open carefully, sliding into the driver’s seat and grasping the wheel delicately. 

The look of awe on her face as she groped her new car was doing things for Jacob. He tried, rather fruitlessly, to redirect his thoughts, but it was hard with his almost-girlfriend draping herself across a brand new car that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and - a growl cut off his line of thinking and he closed his eyes tightly. Sorry!

“When’s my license coming?” Renesmee asked, excitedly, entirely missing the silent conversation between her mate and her father.

“Your mother will go pick it up in about a week or so when she visits Grandpa Charlie.”

Nessie’s smile grew, and finally finally she turned her gaze to Jacob’s, her dimples deep craters in her cheeks. Jacob figured he’d live out the rest of his life trying to keep them there. 

“Now for the rest of the day,” Alice chimed in, filtering into the garage with Jasper not far behind. “We’re going shopping, and then tonight, we’re going to a club!”

Jacob’s eyes glanced in Edward’s direction, a grimace taking over the vampire’s features, just as he figured they would. 

“A club?” Nessie asked. How exactly would they manage that? Nessie didn’t even have a proper driver’s license, much less an ID stating she was of drinking age.

“We know the owner,” Jasper supplied.

“And Bella and I figured it would be a good test of your ability to resist temptation in a crowded setting.”

Nessie rolled her eyes, but agreed. “I’ve got to choreograph my dance routine though,” she said. “Before we go shopping.”

Alice groaned. “But we should go shopping now,” she insisted. “The mall’s just opened and it’ll be less crowded.”

“I thought we were trying to get me used to the crowds?”

“Yes, but shopping crowds are just annoying.”

“You’re already dressed, Renesmee,” Bella mentioned. “As long as Alice promises to have you back around three or so, you should have plenty of time to work on your routine before we leave for the night club.”

“Wait, you’re going, too?” The idea of a night club sounded pretty terrible to her. Lots of Tiffanys and Chrises running around, dancing on each other in an overly loud, hot and sweaty atmosphere. The thought of her parents going too made it worse. No matter how close you were to your parents, having them do teenage things with you tended to suck the fun out of it. 

“We’re all going, save Carlisle and Esme,” her father supplied, almost threateningly. 

Alice huffed. “I promise to have Renesmee home in time to practice her dancing,” she said, crossing her arms in annoyance. “Can we go now?” 

“Fine,” Nessie agreed, temporarily choosing to avoid the topic of the night club. “But Jacob’s coming with.”

Alice waved. “I figured as much.”

An hour later, Nessie, Alice and Jacob crawled out of Alice’s [Tesla](https://67.media.tumblr.com/f6d3e27a5a1cedaf84d848edb8c4651a/tumblr_odrggmDau61qcyc6eo3_r1_540.png), Jacob stretching out his legs in an over-exaggerated fashion. “The next time you drag me to the mall, the least you could do is cram me in a decent sized vehicle, Shortie." 

Alice rolled her eyes at him and Jacob stuck his tongue out in response, walking over to Nessie’s side and reaching for her hand. Nessie felt her heart race and she ducked her head in embarrassment, knowing Jacob and Alice could hear it as well. Jacob chuckled, kissing her hair and squeezing her hand a tad tighter. “I love that,” he whispered. 

“I don’t,” Nessie replied. “It’s mortifying.” 

“Nah,” Jacob argued. “Reminds me that you love me. Now let’s go in here and do some serious damage to your father’s bank account.” 

Alice drug them around multiple stores, mostly grabbing things at random and purchasing them without saying anything to Jacob and Nessie. They figured she was probably buying things she’d already seen members of their family wearing tonight - well, besides the two of them. 

By the time they finally got into a store Nessie could actually see herself purchasing clothes from, they’d been in the mall for nearly two hours. She slowed her pace, walking along the racks of clothing slowly, flipping through hangers to find her size of a few things and throwing them over her arm. Jacob reached for them after a bit of a pile had accumulated. 

“Are you getting an outfit together for tonight or everyday outfits?” Alice asked when she found them, a heaping pile of her own thrown over her arm. Jacob made to reach for those too, but Alice batted his hand away.

“Everyday, mostly. I don’t know why I can’t just wear one of my outfits already in my closet.” 

“Because one: it’s your birthday; and two: it’s your first ever outting! It’s special.”

“If you say so,” Nessie conceded. Alice nodded in a very ‘I do’ fashion.

“Luckily,” she said. “I figured as much, and I’ve already gathered a few outfits for you in the dressing room.” 

Nessie nodded absentmindedly, thumbing through a stack of shorts on the table in front of her. Alice harked at her to hurry up and with rolled eyes and crossed arms, Nessie followed her into the dressing room, leaving Jacob waiting on a plush bench near a collection of mirrors. 

She tried on numerous scanty outfits at Alice’s insistence, tugging at the bottoms of most of the dresses to try to lengthen them, but to no avail. In fact, she was pretty sure some of the ‘dresses’ Alice was forcing on her were actually shirts. Most of them she wouldn’t leave the dressing room wearing, but a few she surfaced with, standing in front of the mirrors to over analyze them. Jacob growled quietly at a few of them, his eyes black with lust, but Nessie ignored him for the most part, focused instead on figuring out how she was going to make it out of the mall with an outfit for tonight that wouldn’t cause her stomach to twist into knots. 

At the very bottom of the pile laid a black mass of different materials and as she separated them, she wondered how they looked together in Alice’s mind, because here on the bench, they just looked like a mess. Still, she pulled the leather skirt on, where the bottom ended far lower than the rest of the skirts had. She stretched the cotton bralette-type top over her head, leaving her bra in place even though she knew it would irritate Alice to no end. 

Alice came in a few seconds later, holding a few shoe boxes and hangers full of clothing again as Nessie was shrugging into a leather jacket with three quarter sleeves. Alice’s lips tugged first one way then the other as she stared Nessie up and down. She emptied her arms onto the bench beside them and reached for the skirt, tugging it up over her navel. 

“This is a high waisted skirt,” she said in explanation, reaching behind her and unclipping her bra.

“Hey!” Nessie protested. 

“Ness?” Jacob asked outside.

“She’s fine! Don’t you dare come in here, dog.” 

Nessie rolled her eyes. “I’m okay, Jake. Aunt Alice just doesn’t understand boundaries!” 

Her bra was tugged out from under the top, her breasts filling it out on their own once Alice rearranged it a bit. She opened one of the shoe boxes she’d brought in and unearthed a pair of black peep-toe pumps with red heels and silver embellishments. “Here, put these on and let your hair down,” she instructed, returning to the pile again.

By the time Nessie had followed her instructions, she was being bombarded with more - bracelets that needed to go on her wrists, a lipstick dug out of her aunt’s purse and a coat of bright red lipstick applied to her lips. 

The girl who looked back at her in the mirror looked like a Tiffany. A Tiffany she liked a lot better, however. She looked dangerous, rugged; she looked like she’d match Jacob - motorcycle riding, cigarette smoking, Jacob with his pack tattoo and his ripped muscles and his aura of danger that kept most humans at bay. She loved it. 

“Your coach clutch - the red one? Match that with this [outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=203673206). He’s going to be beside himself,” Alice whispered.

 

“Okay, so when I do the part where I kick my legs out, where do you think I should focus?”

Jacob looked at her inquisitively.

“Like, on the crowd or should my eyes follow my hand movements?”

“Um….”

“Yeah, probably the crowd, honestly,” Nessie interrupted.

Jacob smiled, returning back to supporting from afar by one of the oak trees in the backyard with his Economics textbook. 

“I think I’m gonna run through it once more, and then show everyone.” She rearranged herself into the position she needed to be in and asked Jacob to hit play on the nearby bluetooth speaker.

What was previously “once more” turned into another half-hour worth of minor tweaks and fixes before she finally called her family outside. Jacob put aside his book and joined the rest of the clan on the back porch, taking the speaker with him so he could still control the music when he asked. 

Nessie ran through her routine, happy to see the excited sparks of interest in certain family members’ faces, and the proud gleam in Jacob’s eyes. 

Nessie and Jacob ate dinner pretty early that night, around five. Esme had made Nessie’s favorite meal and it hadn’t taken her long to scarf it down, Alice was rushing her upstairs the second she swallowed the last bite. She thanked her grandmother in passing, throwing a sorry smile over her shoulder as she was ushered into her bedroom and straight into the shower. 

Her aunt bustled around the room, clipping tags and mumbling instructions before bidding farewell, most likely to dress the rest of the family. She did as she was told, pulling the waist up over her belly button and ditching her bra. In a moment of barely thought out bravado, she decided to ditch the underwear she was wearing beneath the skirt, throwing them into the hamper even though she hadn’t worn them for longer than a few minutes. The fact that she heard nothing from her father downstairs told her her mother had him otherwise occupied. A shiver ran through her at the thought. Sex was fairly common at the Cullen house, but she still didn’t like thinking about her parents participating in it. 

She sat at her vanity and applied her red lipstick, blending the corners of her mouth with a bit of black [lipstick](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/486318459745248060/) to add some shadows and depth, pairing the lips with a pair of dramatically fanned false, black eyelashes, a subtle smokey eye, winged eyeliner and very little contour. 

She was just putting the bracelets around her wrists when a fist rapped against her bedroom door. “Come in,” she called from the bathroom, picking up a bottle of hairspray to spritz on her curls one last time.

“About ready, Ness?” Jacob asked, standing just inside the door. He eyed the red and black high heels at the end of Nessie’s bed warily. 

Nessie walked back through the closet and into her bedroom a second later, fumbling with the clasp of the strap on her red clutch. Eventually she freed the strap, throwing it carelessly on the bed before looking up at Jacob. 

She’d seen Jacob dressed up before - for school, for family outtings to Carlisle’s business functions, but today he [matched](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=208258412) her. From the all black button down rolled up to his elbows, to the black skinny jeans and the black combat boots with a stripe of red around the soles - it was subtle, but they matched. Jacob was giving her a similar once over, already imagining dancing with her in the muted lights of the club, his calloused hand against her hard, tight stomach. 

“We match,” she said dumbly. 

“We do,” Jacob commended. “Alice is a very smart woman.”

Nessie smiled. “I’ll make sure she knows you said that.”

“We’re going to be late!” the woman in question shrieks from below, obviously not caring about Jacob’s highest compliments. 

Nessie rolls her eyes but continues her journey over to Jacob, placing her hand on his arm and feeling the muscles tighten when he lifts it and steadies it for her to better hold on to. She forces her feet into the heels, making herself another four inches taller, but still nowhere near Jacob’s height. 

The group squeezes into the family’s Cadillac Escalade, arguing a bit over which groups should be split by the two rows of three seats before Edward declares he and Bella will split, and he will sit between Nessie and Jacob. Nessie rolls her eyes while Jacob shuffles closer to the window. 

 

From what she can see of it over the bouncer's shoulder, the club is just as Nessie pictured it, dimly lit with neon spotlights coasting the room but never fully lighting up the gyrating bodies on the dancefloor. Music so loud it hurts her oversensitive ears thumps through the speakers and her chest, feeling like a heartbeat of its own. 

Emmett mumbled something to the big burly man standing guard in front of the doorway as soon as they arrived, bypassing the long line of humans in their scanty clothes, – though Nessie supposes she can't talk tonight. The guard spoke into a small headpiece, pressing his fingers against the speaker in his ear to block out the noises of the music and other guests. 

A few minutes later, a man she remembered as Garrett arrived at the doors, spreading his arms wide as he glanced at the mass of them. “Cullens!” he exclaimed. “Welcome, welcome! To what do I owe this pleasure?” His eyes shone golden instead of the crimson red she'd grown accustomed to him having the last time he was friendly with her family.

Edward beamed and Nessie wondered if he'd noticed Garrett's eyes as well, or if he harbored a soft spot for the man. Edward rarely smiled at anyone, it seemed. His eyebrows pulled together minutely, at Nessie's thoughts, she assumed. “It's Renesmee's birthday, we came to celebrate!” 

Garrett's eyes flicked to her a second later. “Ah, young Renesmee! So much older looking than the last time I saw you,” he said, reaching for her hand and kissing the top. Jacob growled, stepping closer to Nessie and wrapping his arm around her waist. 

Garrett chucked in response. “Down, boy.” Still, he pulled away from her. “Happy birthday, Darling. Please, come in! I was just about to leave for the night; been here all day working on a few things, running a business is so entertaining! I'll tell the staff to spoil you, though. Free drinks all night!” 

Edward tried to argue that they could more than afford the alcohol, seeing as only Jacob & Nessie would be drinking, but Garrett would have none of that as he led them to a booth in the mezzanine of the club, plucking the ‘reserved’ sign off the top of it and standing aside for the group to slide in. “Now I must bid you adeiu, Cullens! I suppose I don't need to ask you to feed discreetly,” he chuckled, happy to be 'in' on the vegetarian joke, before turning to leave.

They sat for a bit, mostly people watching, but occasionally pointing someone out to the rest of the family, before a waitress came up and took their orders. Nessie ordered a Cosmo, having never had one, but copying something she'd heard on television. Her father's forehead sprouted wrinkles, but he said nothing.

After a round of drinks, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and a reluctant Jasper made their way down the stairs and to the dance floor, losing themselves in the mass of people below. Nessie nudged Jacob with her elbow and gestured to the floor as well. She could think of about 300 places she would rather be than sitting awkwardly in a booth with her parents and though the floor held around a hundred sweaty humans, it was currently topping the list. 

It didn’t take Nessie long to copy what the humans were doing. She’d never really danced, not like this, in a sensual setting anyway. But it was interesting to watch them, their hips cutting paths through the air as they flicked them side to side, back and forth to the beat. 

She backed her body against Jacob’s, hearing him hiss as his arm came around her waist automatically, his fingers against the top of her skirt, politely avoiding her bare skin. She raised her arms up and twined them around his neck, pulling his head closer towards her until his chin was hovering over her shoulder and the back of her head was pressed against his chest. They danced pretty tamely, compared to some of the others around them, but that was fine by Nessie. They weren’t even really a couple… yet. Though, that meant little in this scene

She moved her hips back and forth, not with quite the flicking precision of the other girls in the masses, but slower, more sensual, matching the song playing at the moment. She could feel her ass pressing against Jacob’s jeans, his fingers clenching against her stomach. “You’re starting something you can’t finish,” Jacob warned, and Nessie beamed inside. 

“Could,” Nessie disagreed. “Won’t, but could.”

“Tease,” he growled.

“Impatient,” she countered, pressing closer to him and grinding her ass up against his dick. His fingers slipped up higher on her stomach, touching her skin now, pressing hard enough it would hurt if she were human. His gasp was loud against her ear, the breath he emitted afterwards raising goosebumps along her neck. “A tease is when you arouse someone with no intent on satisfying their urges. I’ll satisfy them one day, not today, but one day.”

Jacob growled again, lifting one hand from her waist to travel elsewhere. Before she could find out where it was headed, though, her father’s voice cut through the foggy haze they’d created for themselves. “Another round of drinks is waiting at the table,” he said, the warning in his tone evident. 

Nessie pulled away from Jake, tugging his hand along behind her as they made their way back up the steps behind Edward. Mentally, she flicked him off and didn’t care about the repercussions. When they sat at the table, however, she found him smirking slightly at her. She stuck her tongue out at him. 

At the table was a bucket full of ice, various bottles stashed inside along with unlit sparklers. Their waitress, doing her very best to compose her face into something that said 'this isn't a waste of my time, there isn't anything else I need to be doing', stood nearby. 

“What's this?” 

Leaving her unanswered, the waitress in the front led her to the railing of the mezzanine whilst speaking into her headpiece much the same as the bouncer had and a few seconds later, the music became background to the deep voice of the DJ, a spotlight whirling around 

“Alright everybody, we've got a very special guest with us tonight, celebrating her 21st birthday, Miss Renesmee Masen!” The crowd, though knowing nothing of her at all, roared in excitement. “If you'll all join me in singing happy birthday to this beautiful lady!”

The crowd did as he said, imperfect and stumbling as it was, but she loved it, mouthing a huge thank you to everyone as the DJ faded out, playing a [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbOhQOfy55o) he dedicated to her. 

The waitress led her back to the table, a lighter materializing from the pocket of her apron. She lit the sparklers in the bucket, allowing their group to take pictures and standing by to make sure they eventually went out before anyone touched the drinks inside, before leaving. 

Afterwards, Nessie downed a shot of Grey Goose, the bottle in the center of the bucket, and then another two, along with a rum and coke that had accidentally been delivered to their table. Edward opened his mouth to scold her but was interrupted by her mother. “Let her have her fun. It’s her birthday. She’ll learn her lesson in the morning, I’m sure.”

Distantly, Nessie registered that she was supposed to be downing a glass of water for every alcoholic drink she consumed to avoid hangovers, like she’d seen on television. She half wondered if she would even be affected by the drinks - it didn’t feel like she was, only a bit gigglier than usual - when Jacob stood to lead her back on the dance floor and she actually stumbled a bit upon leaving her seat. She reached out for Jacob, who smirked at her, but wrapped his arm around her waist to help her down the stairs. She didn’t stumble again, but her head was swimming slightly. 

They resumed their position from earlier, however, Nessie faced Jacob this time, wanting nothing more than to see his eyes darken in the way she’d noticed them doing when he was turned on by her in the past. As the song went on, her hands wandered, gripping the edge of his jeans as they grinded their hips together. Jacob watched her intensely, even when she wasn’t watching him, head thrown back, eyes closed as she let the music consume her. 

A bit buzzed himself, he followed suit, letting his fingers explore the hemline of her skirt. He’d stop when he reached the top of her panties, he promised himself. The skirt was high-waisted, sitting up above her belly button. He’d just be caressing her back if he stopped before he felt her pantyline. 

“I’m not wearing any,” Nessie whispered huskily, boldly in his ear, and Jacob moaned loud and deep. 

“Fuck,” he cursed, pressing his knee between her thigh for her to grind against instead of feeling the tent in his pants. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand out of her skirt, leaving only his fingertips below the hemline at the small of her back. Nessie did the same, inching her fingers inside his jeans. Jacob couldn’t take it, his head drunk off alcohol and Renesmee. She was intoxicating on her own, without the environment, the drinks, the music. 

“Want you,” she said. 

Jacob groaned, pulling his knee away and pressing himself against her, ignoring his erection. Nessie gasped. “Want you too,” he said unnecessarily, lowering his lips to her neck and pressing open mouthed kisses against her skin. She craned her neck sideways, giving him more room. 

A spot behind her ear made her gasp, kissing her collarbone made her moan and move her grip to his lower back, nipping at her shoulder made her scratch at his skin. He cataloged all of this information for later, moving away from her neck to look at her. 

Nessie’s eyes were lust blown and dark in a way he hadn’t seen them outside of hunting. She bit at her bottom lip, her razor sharp teeth glinting in the light of a passing spotlight. Jacob lowered his head again, aiming for her lips this time, hovering, uncertain about an inch away. Nessie closed the gap immediately, closing her eyes and applying the tiniest bit of pressure.

Jacob kissed her back. She was unpracticed, immature in the way she kissed, but he loved it. Chris hadn’t taught her how to do these things yet, how to find pleasure in the adult side of relationships. He placed his hand against her cheek, trying to ignore the tightness of his pants and the fogginess in his brain to be gentle and sweet with her. 

“I love you,” Jacob said when he pulled away. 

“I love you,” Nessie replied, resting her head against his chest. The need to be fast and raunchy hadn't left her, but an overpowering niggling in the back of her brain reminded her of the many very real reasons they should slow down a bit. 

In the morning, she would hate herself. But tonight, everything was amazing.


	11. can't stop a hurricane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from ["Salute" by Little Mix](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjpa0SMOug0)
> 
> Chapter Playlist:  
> \- ["Electric Love" by BORNS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYr96YYEaZY)  
> \- [ "Drag Me Down" by One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwgf3wmiA04)  
> \- [ "Starving" by Hailee Steinfeld](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwjwCFZpdns)

When Nessie’s alarm blared the next day, pulling her out of the deepest sleep of her entire life, probably, it was with a loud groan and strong grimace that she rolled over and hit the snooze button. A few moments later, she was further interrupted by her door being thrown open and her uncle Emmett’s booming voice wishing her a good morning. She pulled the pillow out from under her head to cover her ears, but was still able to hear him chuckling as he went down the hall to do the same to Jacob. 

Her father walked in a few moments later, sitting down on the edge of her bed carefully. “I don’t believe these will work for you, but if you’d like, I brought some pain killers,” he said, offering a small bottle and a glass of blood. “Happy birthday.”

Nessie smiled, taking the offerings and forcing herself to sit up. “Thank you, daddy. How long does this last?” 

“For humans, it can last awhile, usually about a day. For you, I’m afraid we don’t know,” Edward said with a chuckle. “However, if you still would like to pursue cheerleading, you should get out of bed and get ready. You and your mother have to be at the school by eight and it’s seven. I’m sorry, I let you sleep in as late as I could.”

Edward left a few moments later, and Nessie dragged herself out of bed and into the shower, hoping it would make her feel better or that the medicine would start working soon. Unable to really take her time, she just did a quick job of the whole ordeal, skipping her hair so she wouldn’t have to deal with the blowdryer. 

When she emerged from her closet decked out in [Nike](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=212077618), Jacob was waiting for her on her bed, head down. With a smile, Nessie walked over to him, running her fingers through his hair. “You’ll have to get this cut soon, much to my displeasure,” Nessie commented. 

Jacob looked up and Nessie’s hand fell to his shoulder. “Last night shouldn’t have happened,” he said, roughly. 

Nessie’s hand fell immediately, along with her expression. “What are you talking about?”

Jacob stood so quickly it almost hurt Nessie’s head to watch. He turned his back to her, running his own hand through his hair. “The kissing and -” he waved the other hand through the air as if doing so would conjure up the word he was searching for. “Dancing,” he finally settled on, turning around. “You were drunk and I was - at least buzzed! I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that and I’m so, so sorry.”

“Jacob, I’m not angry.” 

“You should be! You asked me to take it slow, for very real reasons!”

“And we kissed, and groped a little, so what? It’s not like you pinned me down and tried having sex with me!” Jacob growled at the reminder. “I’m not angry, I swear. We’re fine.” A thought occurred to Nessie suddenly, old insecurities seeping in. “Unless we’re not? I mean, if you didn’t want it… Like, I know I sort of threw myself at you.”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Of course I wanted that. I want you always. You know that. C’mere.” 

Nessie stepped forward into Jacob’s outstretched arms. “Stop causing fights for no reason, Black.” She was so wrapped up in Jacob that she didn’t even notice her ‘hangover’ was already gone.

 

Nessie and a much less enthusiastic Bella made their way into the school gym at promptly 7:57. Most of the students were in small groups, chatting loudly with one another. Nessie met Tiffany’s gaze across the room and held the glare. 

“Alright, cheerleaders!” Jessica called, gathering their attention to one side of the gym. Alyssa closed the open gym doors, waving in a few stragglers with a stern expression. “First thing’s first, on the table to my left you’ll see a bunch of name tags and Sharpies. Please write your preferred name on a sticker and place it on either the left or right side of your chest where it will be visible at all times.” 

After the group did as they were told, Nessie struggling to fit her entire first name on the sticker, they were instructed to take two laps around the edge of the gym. Afterward, the students stood in the center of the room, and followed the stretches the coaches showed them and listened to a few safety rules. 

During the rest of the day, it was a whirlwind of instruction, memorisation and physicality. They were made to practice different kinds of jumps over and over again, higher and higher each time. Chants were similar. Each time, they were told to project more, louder, louder! 

[Tumbling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5br5LCLtDXw) followed, something Nessie had been scared to try but found came pretty simply to her. She supposed she wasn’t surprised, most things came pretty simply to her due to the fact she was part vampire, but a small irrational part of her brain had still worried she wouldn’t be able to cut through the air like the other girls were. 

[Stunts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhG1AzRBM4M) were next, and Nessie and Bella were paired with a girl named Megan and a boy named Ethan. The three girls took turns flying while Ethan remained their base, sometimes along with one of the other girls of the group. Always, one of them stood behind the person in the air, ready to help catch them if necessary. They learned basket tosses and cupies and awesomes and about a trillion different ways to hold their bodies whilst balancing on Ethan’s hand. The hardest part for Nessie was remembering to slow everything down and jump, twist and flip at a human pace.

When they broke for lunch, Nessie could hardly contain her excitement, rattling off her every thought to her mother. They walked outside to eat their lunch, like most of the others had chosen to do, looking for a shaded area to themselves.

“Renesmee, Bella, over here!” Megan called excitedly from a few yards over. Nessie looked to her mother, who was by far less enthusiastic than she, and shrugged, making her way over to the small table of cheerleaders Megan was hosting. They sat down next to Ethan while Megan introduced them to everyone. “And this is Madison, Avery, Alexis and Chad.” 

“Were you all on the team last year?” 

“Ethan, Alexis, Avery and I were,” Megan started. “This is my little sister’s freshman year.”

Madison rolled her eyes, annoyed. 

“I’m a Junior, but it’s my first year, as well,” Chad said. “I’m not doing too well.” 

“I think you’re doing great!” Madison called suddenly, blushing terribly afterward. 

Chad looked over at her and smiled politely. “Thank you,” he said, ignoring her obvious embarrassment. 

“These two are naturals,” Ethan commented, pointing to the Masens. “Are you sure you didn’t cheer at your old school?”

“We did gymnastics,” Bella said before Nessie had the chance to freak out about the suspicion. “Similar, same muscles and skill set.”

Everyone seemed to buy it, nodding and chatting as they finished their meals. 

Alyssa called them in a short time later and stood in the front of the group, teaching them the routine and chants they would need to memorise and perform for tryouts. They spent the remaining hours perfecting them with the two coaches calling out mistakes every now and then. 

“Alright everyone, you’re all doing really well so far but make sure you practice tonight at home as much as you can! We’ll reconvene tomorrow at eight. Eat a well balanced meal with some protein if possible, ice any sore muscles or take a long soak, and I recommend trying to get in at least eight hours of sleep. See you all tomorrow!”

Nessie and Bella stayed behind for a few minutes, saying goodbye to their new friends, before making their way to Bella’s Ferrari.

The second Nessie got home, she bounded into Jacob’s bedroom, jumping up and down in front of his TV for attention. Jacob smiled. “Sorry guys, I gotta go. My girl’s home.” She could hear the men on through Jake’s headphones groaning and whistling. 

“Your girl, huh?” 

“That’s who you are, isn’t it?” Jacob asked, standing up from his gaming chair and taking off his headphones before wrapping his arms around Nessie’s waist. 

“I suppose so,” Nessie replied. 

“How was cheerleading?”

This sparked a long and animated spiel from Nessie, complete with hand motions. Eventually, Nessie dragged Jacob outside to show him everything she’d learned. He was quite a good base for Nessie to practice some of her stunts. She ran through the routine they’d been taught a few times before finally going inside and eating the dinner Esme had prepared for the two of them, taking the coach’s advice and pampering herself with a soak in the bath afterwards. 

She didn’t need as much sleep as humans did, but she did turn in around midnight to ensure she got a good amount. She ate a few pieces of fruit for breakfast, along with a glass of blood her father passed into her hand. She rolled her eyes, but downed the glass anyway. The human blood was good, but her body was used to getting it as a rare treat, not every day, and it seemed to her that her parents didn’t trust her around the humans. 

The second day of clinics were more intense than the first. Fewer people filled the gym, but Alyssa and Jessica didn’t bat an eye. They put new name tags on their shirts and took a few laps around the gym before stretching. 

They did the reverse of what they did yesterday, working on the routine first and then the stunts, chants and tumbling after lunch. It was a bit easier controlling herself today, both speed and any blood lust that remained in her after her father’s overbearing tendencies. She noticed her mother stumbling through most of her tumbles and stunts, and acting like she was just a beat behind the better students and Nessie smiled. Her mother could be perfect at this, despite how clumsy Nessie’d been told Bella was when she was human, but she was obviously backing off so it would look less suspicious when she decided not to go forward with tryouts. 

The coaches walked through the group throughout the day, correcting here and there, watching closely for mistakes that were fixable immediately and told students to practice everything else. At the end of the day, the coaches had everyone sit in a circle.

“We want to let everyone know how proud we are of them regardless of how they do tomorrow during tryouts. As you can see, there’s quite a few more of you than there are spots on the team, so some of you will be cut. We urge those who do to try again next year. We aren't cutting anyone because we think they’ll be bad cheerleaders, we have to cut people so that they have opportunities to practice and grow, and because unfortunately we do only have a few spaces open. We will be accepting forty cheerleaders total, twenty for varsity and twenty for junior varsity.” 

Jessica let her words sink in for a few seconds before continuing. “Typically, freshmen are chosen for junior varsity and usually sophomores are as well, so if you’re in those grades and find yourselves on the JV team, it doesn’t mean you weren’t good enough for varsity, just that we chose to give the twenty spots to the juniors and seniors who may be a bit more experienced than you. Now, we’re going to wrap things up in a moment. Does anyone have any questions?” No one raised their hands. “Alright, if you change your minds or just need to know what to expect from tomorrow, feel free to call or email one of us and ask. Please remember to be on time and that you’ll be expected to stay even after your tryout to support your peers. You may go.”

 

That night, Nessie practiced from the moment she got home to the second she needed to go to bed, even shooing Jacob away a few times. He pouted morosely from the steps, watching her with his chin in his hand. “Nessie, it’s perfect, babe. Let’s go to bed.”

Edward growled from inside, and Nessie rolled her eyes. “He needs to get used to it,” she mumbled. Jacob stayed silent, mostly in effort to suck up to Edward. Jacob supposed he was beginning the stage with Nessie where Edward could make his life very difficult. 

“We have to be awake for school in five hours, Ness. I know you can function on so little sleep, but I can’t.” He paired the statement with a puppy dog face, hoping to prey on whatever piece of Nessie wasn’t in cheerleading autopilot. 

It worked, apparently, because a few seconds later Nessie stared at him with her hands on her hips, her eyes softening and a smile appearing before she walked forward and held out a hand for his, dragging him up off the step and into the house. 

“Separate beds,” Edward called as they passed, and Nessie rolled her eyes again. Jacob smiled; he loved her so much.

 

The next day, Nessie was awake and [dressed](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=193185411) before Jacob even thought about getting out of bed. By the time he stumbled into the kitchen, blearily wiping at his eyes in confusion, Nessie was sitting boredly in a kitchen chair waiting for her parents to deem it a worthy hour to stop having sex and come to tryouts with her. Her eyes flitted over to Jacob the moment he entered the kitchen and a hint of a smile tugged on her lips. “Get dressed,” she said. “We’re going to be late.”

Jacob looked at the phone in his hand and smiled. “We have over an hour before we have to leave the house, Ness.” The answering venom in her eyes told him to go get dressed again. 

Nessie was honestly nervous as hell. She’d decided to make a last minute to change to one part of her routine, something tiny, but she was worried just the same. It was a risky choice, changing everything mere hours before her tryouts, but she was happy with it. Nervous, but happy. 

The whole family filtered into the gym, everyone but Nessie taking to the stands after giving her hugs and wishing her luck. Nessie pulled Jacob back as he started to leave, ignoring her father’s look of contempt, and wrapping herself in the wolf’s arms. “You’re gonna do great, Ness,” Jacob said, kissing her hair.

“I know,” she replied. “But I’m still scared.”

“Don’t be. I’ll try to sit right behind the coaches. Stare at me.” Nessie nodded against his chest. “I’m proud of you.” 

The coaches called the girls to the center of the gym afterwards, leaving Nessie to say goodbye to Jacob. They went over a few rules again, reminding the girls to stay put after their tryouts to support their peers, and a minor outline of how the day would go.

As her last name was closer to the end of the alphabet, Nessie watched many girls go before her name was finally called. She stepped up confidently, head held high and shoulders back despite the nervousness that sat in her stomach. It was just high school, it was just a few years. If she didn’t make the team, in the long run, would it matter? 

“Hi, I’m Renesmee Masen.”

The coaches smiled at her. “Hi Nessie. Whenever you’re ready, we would like you to perform a double toe touch, a pike, and a right and left hurdler,” Jessica said. Nessie did as she was told, smiling largely but mostly due to the fact that she could hear Jacob mumbling encouragements.  
“Great,” replied Alyssa. “Now, are you comfortable with tumbling?” Nessie nodded. “Awesome, then this part will be freestyle. Show us as much as you’d like.”

Taking advantage of the width of the tumbling mats laid down in the gym, Nessie ran back towards the back left corner, breathing deeply, though unnecessarily, before raising her arms in the air. She did a front flip step out round off back handspring to layout and then countered it with a double full twist and a standing full before walking back to the front of the coaches’ table. They seemed impressed, and if the whispers and gasps of the others in the audience were anything to go by, she was doing well. 

“Alright,” Jessica said, her eyes twinkling, “Have you been practicing flying positions?” 

“Yes,” Nessie replied happily. Flying was what she wanted to do the most. 

“Alright, if you could pretend you were in the air and do the bow and arrow, arabesque, the straightest needle you can do, and the liberty, please.” 

One by one, Nessie did them perfectly, her needle as straight as possible. She was so exhilarated and excited she could hardly stand it. 

Alyssa requested a few chants, which Nessie did on autopilot pretty much by this point, before finally, Jessica asked her to do her [solo dance routine](https://youtu.be/GXjIrtbPZOA?t=3m53s). 

The music she’d selected and turned into the man serving the role as DJ rang through the air and the second the beat she was looking for hit, her body was hitting its first pose. She kept her body tight, her movements quick and true to the beat of the song. She messed up, very minorly, a few times and hoped the coaches wouldn’t notice. A small part of her brain assured her the only reason she noticed was because of her superhuman abilities. 

The audience and coaches clapped politely at the end, same as they had for every other person, and Nessie heard Jacob whistle loudly. She broke out in a huge smile as she stood before the coaches again. 

“Thank you, Renesmee,” Alyssa said with a large smile. “The results will be announced over the morning announcements tomorrow. Please remember to stay behind and support the rest of your peers.” It was the same speech everyone else had gotten but the warmth in Alyssa’s voice was definite. 

“Thank you for the opportunity,” Nessie replied, walking up to sit with her family as another person’s name was called. 

The Cullens quietly congratulated her, Edward with a bit of a grimace and tight knuckles while Jacob pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her tightly. “I’m so proud of you!”


End file.
